Hickinbotham The Revivalist Merlot
McLaren Vale, Australia
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- Avg Price (ex-tax)
- $ 52 / 750ml
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4 from 3 User Ratings
- 46 Critic Reviews
- Style Red - Rich and Intense
- Grape Variety Merlot
- Food Pairing Beef and Venison
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Fruit sourced from the Hickinbotham Clarendon Vineyard.
Critic tasting note: (2022 vintage) "If Merlot has a theme tune, it would be something like “What the World Needs Now is Love”. Bacharach is a classic for good reason, as is Merlot, and it’s time we give this grape a little more love after the beating it took from Sideways fame. Juicy, deep fruited and inviting, this heady mix of ripe berries and skin spice is a perfumed temptation. Cedary oak is there, but playing a gentle background beat on the nose, and the palate is firmly structured with rather grippy tannins at first (16 days on skins and 50% new oak, with light pressings in free-run juice), but softening their attitude as the wine flows through the palate. There’s plenty to enjoy here, and the bolstered structure will help turn the heads of those hardened “anything but Merlot” folk. With lifted acidity, grippy tannins and a plush, charry fruit profile, this is made to enjoy with a top-notch steak, cooked over flames. By Cassandra Charlick" - Winepilot
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$45.55
inc. 10% sales tax
2020 750ml
2020 Hickinbotham Clarendon The Revivalist Merlot, McLaren Vale
In stock ()
M.S Cellars Pty Ltd
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Australia: Sydney
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$55.32
inc. 10% sales tax
2020 750ml
Hickinbotham Clarendon The Revivalist Merlot 2020
In stock ()
Check with the merchant for stock availability. Wine-Searcher is not responsible for omissions and inaccuracies.
Highlights
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- A number of critics have rated this McLaren Vale wine extremely highly: the 2022 vintage was given a score of 95 by Winepilot.
- This is the highest-priced wine made from Merlot in McLaren Vale. The price has been stable over the past year.
- This is one of the most popular wines from the region. Interest in this wine has fallen off relative to previous years.
Details
Analytical Data
- Alcohol ABV
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13.5 - 14.5%
Suggested Dishes to Pair With This Wine
- Beef cheung fun Starter Course
- Steamed beef dumpling
- Contains: oyster sauce, rice wine
- Chinese
- Goulash Main Course
- Beef stew with paprika
- Hungarian
- Blue Grey wing rib Main Course
- Marbled, tender and flavourful beef from the Blue Grey, a hybrid breed from Scotland and northern England
- Western
- Beef gal bi Main Course
- BBQ marinated beef short ribs
- Contains: mirin, garlic
- Korean
Details
Analytical Data
- Alcohol ABV
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13.5 - 14.5%
Critics Scores & Reviews
(46)All vintages
91 / 100
46 scores
95 - 100
1
90 - 94
43
85 - 89
2
80 - 84
0
75 - 79
0
0 - 74
0
2022 Vintage
Tasted: Aug 2025
If Merlot has a theme tune, it would be something like “What the World Needs Now is Love”. Bacharach is a classic for good reason, as is Merlot, and it’s time we give this grape a little more love after the beating it took from Sideways fame. Juicy, deep fruited and inviting, this heady mix of ripe berries and skin spice is a perfumed temptation. Cedary oak is there, but playing a gentle background beat on the nose, and the palate is firmly structured with rather grippy tannins at first (16 days on skins and 50% new oak, with light pressings in free-run juice), but softening their attitude as the wine flows through the palate. There’s plenty to enjoy here, and the bolstered structure will help turn the heads of those hardened “anything but Merlot” folk. With lifted acidity, grippy tannins and a plush, charry fruit profile, this is made to enjoy with a top-notch steak, cooked over flames. By Cassandra Charlick
2021 Vintage
Tasted: Dec 2024
With a short time aerating, this reveals supple blackcurrant and black cherry flecked in savory herbs with a saline, iodine bass note. There's a decent lick of chocolatey cola-like oak showing here, too, clearly the hand of a barrel-loving Napa producer (namely Chris Carpenter of Jackson Family Wines). But overall it's a polished, even sexy, wine that's structured for the long haul but drinkable now, too, beside a plate of protein.
2020 Vintage
Tasted: Jul 2024
There's a dusty library feel to the nose of this McLaren Vale Merlot, from vines over 50 years old. It, combined with dried-cherry and cigar-box aromas, subtle fine tannins and moderate acidity, gives an impression of wine older than this is. Nevertheless, despite some toasted coconut oak influence showing, it's nuanced, with layers rarely seen in this variety Down Under. Just don't leave it in the cellar for too long.
2022 Vintage
Tasted: Feb 2024
A rich, plusher expression of merlot, at least in an Australian context. Tomato leaves, Damson plums and ferrous tannins directing solid length. Drink or hold. Screw cap.
2021 Vintage
Tasted: Jul 2023
93% Merlot, 7% Petit Verdot. There’s no questioning the presence of oak here. It’s hand in hand with the bright fruit on the nose in tension with a deep earthy and brackish, musky note of scuffed up autumn leaves and damp soil. Gentle on the approach, this wine will have its fans in those that appreciate the plushness Merlot can deliver; light footed and gliding over the palate in soft focus. The acid provides a bright note, and puts a shine on the fruit. It finishes a little more abbreviated than anticipated, with the oak trailing in the fruit’s wake.
2021 Vintage
Tasted: Apr 2023
Wild fermented with 16 days on skins; 15 months in French barriques (60% new) before a couple of months in old foudre, post blending. Aromas of mocha, coffee beans, damson plums and a slither of herb-crusted tannins are beautifully managed. A full-weighted wine, with a lilt of herbal freshness. As good as merlot gets on these shores. Drink or hold. Screw cap.
2019 Vintage
Tasted: Mar 2023
This is a plush and polished style of Merlot with oodles of cherry, cola, beets with their stems, green peppercorn and an olive savoriness. The palate is full figured; the tannins are a touch drying. Cut it with a steak knife, which you can then use on the steak beside it. But peek through the power and gloss to get at the balanced and site-expressive wine beneath. Drink 2024–2030.
2019 Vintage
Tasted: Jan 2023
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2018 Vintage
Tasted: Sep 2022
This vintage of the highly regarded Clarendon vineyard is currently in an awkward place. There are layers of flavor, from sun-shriveled plums and figs to green peppercorn and olive brine; from cedar shavings to chocolatey oak, but the oak and alcohol make for a dense, heavy set bottling lacking in freshness and verve. From 2019 the winery switched to large foudre barrels, so this reviewer advises either holding out for later vintages of this wine or leaving this in the cellar another few years. Christina Pickard
2019 Vintage
Tasted: Jul 2022
A bold and ripe merlot that offers much in the way or ripe plum and blueberry fruit, as well as assertive, cedary oak influence. The palate starts fleshy and squares up through the mid-section with bold tannins peaking before a burst of red-plum fruit through the finish. Drink over the next five years. Screw cap.
2017 Vintage
Tasted: Dec 2020
Hickinbotham's Bordeaux varieties are made by Napa Winemaker Chris Carpenter. The latest Merlot is up a quality notch from most Down Under. A mélange of cherry, licorice and scrubby Mediterranean herbs and spices is coated in a cola-driven sheen of polished oak. Lighter than others under this label, this is nonetheless a big wine which captures the juicy red fruit via lifted acidity and well-structured, savory tannins. Drink now–2028. Christina Pickard
2018 Vintage
Tasted: May 2020
Plenty of ripe red plums and purple flowers with a cedary and spicy oak thread, too. The palate has a succulent, smooth feel with a bold, assertive cut to the tannin. Ripe, rich and punchy merlot.
2015 Vintage
Tasted: Jan 2020
‘Revivalist' refers to the extensive vineyard work on the canopy structure of vines planted in 1976, but it may just as well apply to the notion of restoring some decency to the reputation of the merlot grape. The fruit is as intense as ever beginning with the dark cherry, black cherry aromas that prevail across the palate. The freshness of the fruit, the silky texture of merlot, and the earthy, figgy savoury finish make this a big winner. There is also a surprising elegance just to finish off the picture. The Hickinbotham Clarendon Vineyard, planted since 1971, covers a steep cut of the country from the ridgetops above Clarendon, to the Onkaparinga River in the gorge below. Jackson Family Farms is the current owner, and the wines are made by Australian Charlie Seppelt, and American Chris Carpenter. (Anthony Gismondi).
2017 Vintage
Tasted: Jun 2019
A bold, plum and spice style with cedary oak and an unmistakably Australian edge. The palate has impressive depth and fresh red-plum flesh with firmish tannins, cradling ripe and zesty red plums. Drink or hold. Screw cap.
2016 Vintage
Tasted: Jun 2018
This is a ripe and assertive merlot with plenty of cedary oak in the mix, as well as plums and spiced plum pudding. The fleshy palate is underpinned by grainy tannins, making this a bold, assertive red. Drink or hold. Screw cap.
2014 Vintage
Tasted: Jun 2017
There's a nice floral component to this, as well as some blackcurrant and vanilla character. Full body, round tannins and a fruit-driven finish. Screw cap.
2014 Vintage
Tasted: Feb 2017
The Hickinbotham Clarendon Vineyard, planted since 1971, covers a steep cut of the country from the ridgetops above Clarendon, to the Onkaparinga River in the gorge below. Jackson Family Farms is the current owner, and the wines are made by Australian Charlie Seppelt and American Chris Carpenter. ‘Revivalist' is said to refer to the extensive vineyard work on the canopy structure of vines planted in 1976, but it may just as well apply to the notion of restoring some decency to the merlot grape. I love the silky, earthy fruit flavours that spring from the bottle. A pre-maceration lasts about 96 hours before it is fermented open top where it spends another three weeks on the skins before 15 months in French oak. It was hardly a perfect vintage with a dry spring, a January heatwave and heavy February rains and a cool finish. No matter, this is fun to drink with its Bing cherry aromas, dried figs and a fragrant, savoury finish. I love the elegance here. (Anthony Gismondi).
2013 Vintage
Tasted: Feb 2016
A rich red and blue fruited style with a sweet-smelling oak-infused nose, some distinct eucalypt notes at the edge too, fresh leafy elements, some fig fruit, bright and lively. The palate has a terrific core of velvety fruit, really supple, smooth and even, tannins just register above the flesh, great balance here, red plum and blueberry flavors with toasty oak spices to close.
2014 Vintage
Tasted: Jul 2022
When to drink: 2022
to 2032
Where more than 24 Critics scores exist, only the first 24 are displayed.
For completeness we may include critic scores in our aggregation that we do not display.
User Ratings
(3)4
3 ratings
Very Good
2014 Vintage Saved: 21-Dec-2018
$85
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