Yarra Yering, Dry Red No.1, 2016, Yarra Valley, Australia

Our View:

The original Yarra Yering wine continues to made with the same care and principles applied when the vineyard was first founded. This excellent cabernet sauvignon led red blend is ready to be enjoyed now but also has the potential for ageing, easily for another 10 years.  

If you are yet to try the wines from Yarra Yering then now could be the time!

The Wine:

Wine was grown in Victoria’s Yarra Valley from the mid 1800’s through to the 1920’s and was a principal export of the region. Yarra Yering's founder - Dr Bailey Carrodus - found his perfect site at the foot of the Warramate Hills and in 1969 began planting.

He named his vineyard Yarra Yering and in 1973 produced his first vintage of Dry Red Wine No.1, a Bordeaux inspired blend and Dry Red Wine No.2, a northern Rhone blend. The vineyard that would go on to become one of the best in the Yarra Valley had arrived.

The gentle slope with its northerly aspect and deep grey silty loam shot through with bands of gravel fulfilled all of his requirements. Good drainage, all day exposure to the warm sun, and enough elevation from the valley floor to avoid the spring frosts.

The first plantings at Yarra Yering into block No.1 were these Cabernet vines and the name was born. The Malbec was also part of the original 1969 plantings. Some Merlot vines are interplanted with the Cabernet with subsequent plantings made in 1990 on the newly acquired neighbouring land. Petit verdot is now only grown on the hillside of the new territories.

For the Dry Red No.1, all grapes were hand harvested as well as processing across a sorting table, only the best berries go into this wine. The Cabernet fruit is crushed to build structure through fermentation. Merlot, Malbec and Petit verdot are whole berry ferments for fragrance and palate flesh. All fermented in half-tonne fermenters and hand plunged twice daily, some of the Cabernet spending extended time on skins. Components kept separate in French oak barrels, only 40% of them new until being blended just before bottling after 15 months barrel maturation. 

Tasting Note:

Stylish, lifted nose settling into itself after a few years in bottle. Shows signature blackberry, aniseed, sarsaparilla, marzipan and cassis with hints of bergamot and sage. On the palate, a medium-bodied style featuring a fleshy, fruit-layered palate integrated with earthy complexity. Juicy acidity, characteristic of this vineyard, underlays soft expansive fruit and fine dusty tannins. In true Yarra Yering tradition, it combines power with poise, concentration with finesse.

The Facts:

What the critics say:

 97 Points - James Halliday: 

"Profoundly juicy and rich, yet kept under tight control by the web of ripe tannins, oak part of the structure and texture but not flavour per se. It is a wine that you can sit with for a prolonged examination and discussion, and still not cover all its characteristics or ask all the questions".