Yarra Wineries visit

Coldstream, Yarra
Tasted Friday, October 6, 2006 by graemeg with 637 views

Introduction

A day in the Yarra, with tasting at 3 long established wineries in the eastern part of the valley

Flight 1 - Coldstream Hills (9 Notes)

Some whites tasted as well - minimal notes taken. Also bought autographed copy of Halliday's atlas.

Flight 2 - Warramate (6 Notes)

For a winery established back in 1970 - around the same trime as the legendary trio of Mount Mary, yarra Yering and Seville, Warramate has a very low profile.
Dry grown grapes - 30 year old vines, vineyard adjacent - literally - to Yarra Yering; why haven't the wines been better?
Perhaps an apparent policy of putting all the grapes picked into the wines made a difference (how about a triage, guys?) perhaps the winemaking, who knows?
Anyway, the baton has been passed to a new generation, so maybe things will pick up around here.

  • 2005 Warramate Riesling

    Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Yarra Valley

    {screwcap, A$25} Softly citric mid-palate, decent lick of acid. Pleasant but pricey.

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  • 2004 Warramate Pinot Noir

    Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Yarra Valley

    {screwcap, A$19} Lifted, ripe nose, jammy fruits; fine tannins on the palate, dark berry fruits; rich but also rather warm, a touch oxidative somehow; price tells you all you need to know…

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  • 2002 Warramate Cabernet Merlot

    Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Yarra Valley

    {cork, A$30} Classic Bordeaux-variety nose, although with a new-worldish accent. Balanced, elegant and polished palate, softly tannic, but with a finish far too short for greatness.

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  • 2004 Warramate Shiraz Black Label

    Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Yarra Valley

    {screwcap, A$19} From newer plantings and hence younger vines, this is the inaugural vintage of the cheaper Black Label (both cabernet & shiraz wines). Black pepper nose, although not without a greenish tinge. All the flavours here point unhesitatingly at a cooler climate. Price roughly commensurate with quality.

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  • 2005 Warramate Cabernet Sauvignon

    Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Yarra Valley

    {screwcap, A$19} Essence of cassis here, medium-weighted, with fine tannins and a soft mouthfeel. Nicely scaled and not over-done. Lacks the last word in depth and sophistication, but at this price is a decent buy.

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  • 2004 Warramate Shiraz White Label

    Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Yarra Valley

    {screwcap, A$38} Softly focussed white pepper aromas. Fine powdery tannins; good balance of flavours across the palate; a clear step up in quality from the Black Label variant; medium weight and with a decent length finish. Still youthful, a few years might give it more dimension.

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Flight 3 - Yarra Yering with Dr Carrodus (8 Notes)

I was surprised to find this winery even open, and positively alarmed to find I was the lone taster under the gimlet eye of the formidable Dr Carrodus.
Worse, this was my first serious tasting of the wine of this estate (a few No 1's excepted) so i rather felt on trial.
What do you say as a newbie-taster to a man who founded the vineyard and is still here 35 years later pouring his wines for you?
'Thank you very much' was all I could really manage. Better to stay silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt...

  • 2004 Yarra Yering Chardonnay

    Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Yarra Valley

    {cork, A$65} Another powerful white. Rich fig/melon/peach nose; similarly rich palate, helped along by 100% malolactic. And there’s no acid added, either which might make you fear for its structure but no; this is build like an iron truss bridge. Full-bodied, not too oaky at all, but tight and compressed. Remarkable wine, and again, expensive…

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  • 1999 Yarra Yering Dry White N°1

    Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Yarra Valley

    {cork, A$65} Rich full golden colour; near-full-bodied dry wine, powerful honey and beeswax palate, plenty of acid; clearly somewhat developed but with the integrity to suggest it’s got years to go still. Among the last vintages made – something of a hard sell, hence the age of the current release. Handicapped by its price not its quality, in my opinion.

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  • 2004 Yarra Yering Dry Red N°1 New Vineyard

    Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Yarra Valley

    {cork, A$45} Good solid red colour. Lots of briary black malbec influences in this young vine cabernet-based wine. The palate is a bit less focussed than the nose; medium bodied but lacks the sheer integrity of the following reds. This is kept out of the flagship ‘Red Wine No 1’ so as not to weaken the blend, and sold seperately (and – slightly – more cheaply). Still, I reckon it’s overpriced; presumably as the vines age and the grapes come up to scratch this - immensely confusing - label will disappear.
    Note - labelled 'New Vineyard', not just 'New Vine' as some other cheaper YY reds have been.

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  • 2004 Yarra Yering Pinot Noir

    Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Yarra Valley

    {cork, A$65} Quite purpley-dark for pinot; varietally-correct (cherry, dark chocolate) aromas shot through with stalkiness, but the palate is rich and full and betrays no untoward greenness. The structure is prominent; all powerful acid and fine oak with trhe fruit taking a back seat – it’s a weighty wine but none the worse for that. Suggests long aging is required.

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  • 2004 Yarra Yering Sangiovese

    Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Yarra Valley

    {cork, A$65} Rich almost liqueur-like flavours ripple through the palate. Structured, almost heavyweight in the house style – this is no easy-pasta-slurping wine. You’d honestly struggle to pick this as sangiovese. Interesting wine, but again too expensive.

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  • 2004 Yarra Yering Dry Red N°2

    Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Yarra Valley

    {cork, A$65} YY’s traditional Rhone blend, the shiraz being accompanied by 2% each of viognier and marsanne this vintage. Cool-ish shiraz – white peppers on the nose don’t preclude a ripe rich palate laced with fine powdery tannins. Medium-full bodied. Angular and youthful and needs time.

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  • 2004 Yarra Yering Shiraz Underhill

    Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Yarra Valley

    {cork, A$65} A much warmer smelling and tasting winwe than the No 2 Red. This is deep and dark, somewhat thick-textured yet still fresh. Finely tannic and with great structure and palate coverage. Youthful and primary now – although still the most approachable red – but should turn into something more interesting with a bit of cellar time.

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  • 2004 Yarra Yering Dry Red N°1

    Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Yarra Valley

    {cork, A$65} Dark ruby. Essence of briary, cassis-like cabernet fruits. The palate is surprisingly approachable; youthful, but the tannins are so fine that early drinking is not unthinkable. Still it’s rather tight, and the long finish is just singing a single phrase at this young age. Medium-full bodied, but impeccably balanced, this wants 10 years to bloom.

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Closing

Instructive tastings. Yarra Yering was quite an experience.
Vale Bailey Carrodus in 2009: YY has since changed hands (obviously) and will undoubtedly never be the same again.

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