1991 Yarra Yering Dry Red N°1

Community Tasting Notes (8) Avg Score: 94.4 points

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  4/15/2023 - Rote Kappelle Likes this wine: 96 Points

  Presumably the medico who wrote 'ETOH dependant' on my chart a few years ago would feel vindicated when I write that the sensual pleasure of some wine can really help guide one through the darkest moments. Of course that also applies to rugby, cricket, a well written sentence, a dawn/sunset, the flight of a bird, the shape of a woman, the taste of home grown fruit just picked and beating dogs and children (the difference is not always readily apparent to me). Perhaps I am dependent on all of these things as well.
  
  1990 and 1991 were two sensational vintages (1992 was no slouch either) throughout most of Oz. 1990 was more up front, 1991 perhaps a little more structured. It was no different in the Yarra Valley, where Yarra Yering do their thing. A friend opened his 1990 YY for me many years later and it remains a lasting memory.
  
  I make no apologies for adoring YY. I love the site itself, the wines are very distinctive and every time I have been there, I have been treated well. As someone with a personality that might most kindly be described as 'difficult' I appreciate these things.
  
  The cork (they have abandoned this stupid closure for the domestic market thank goodness) was terrifying. Removing the capsule there was a splendid growth of mold. Always a bit worrying. However, I was relieved that this was more the white variety and not the chilling dark, mildewy type. Feeling like the knight in the poem Jabberwok, I entered the dark forest clutching both my Vorpal Corkscrew and, as a sort of main-gauche a prongy thing (poetically known as an Ah-So). A wise precaution for the cork proceeded to behave like a bastard, breaking in two and also doing the core extraction thing that is fine if one is drilling for a sample, but which is a shit storm when opening a bottle of wine. The main-gauche saved the day, removing the last of the cork, thanks to some manipulations by me that caused me to speculate on whether I had done a lot of yoga or gymnastics in a past life.
  
  The cork was well stained up the sides and I was not feeling optimistic about the state of the 30 year old wine within. Dialing up the coordinates for Portugal's cork forests, I was loading not Agent Orange (as I have previously posited), but the heaviest of thermonuclear strikes, to then be followed by Agent Orange. After that my legions would sow salt in the soil to ensure that the cork heresy was forever conquered.
  
  Naturally, the fates being fickle, the wine within was in splendid condition. Being YY the colour is always fairly dense but there was preciosu little brick to be seen.
  
  The wine was decanted into my Riedel Horse Penis shape decanter. From the first it was everything one wants in YY. People speak of Graves and I can see the link but to me YY Number 1 is Right Bank. The proportions of the grape varieties does favour the Graves comparison (Merlot plays a big part but Cabernet is dominant) but the mouthfeel and general flavour and aromatic profile speak to me more of Pomerol. I am of the view that the soil types are also closer to those of the Right Bank than of Graves or the Left Bank generally but on this I could be wrong.
  
  YY wines always exhibit remarkable balance on release and in a way, nothing changes with age but the wines do seem to get even deeper, without losing their agility or seeming less lithe. I am put in mind of Norman Lindsay's drawings of young women; they have full figures but with poise and so much grace.
  
  I smell plum, dark berry, a lovely clay smell (wet stone could be another descriptor and it draws me to Pomerol as well), some crumbly loam and just a touch of Balsamic to provide some tension. The palate is so long, like a lingering caress, intensity is of the velvet glove type. If this is ETOH dependency then bring it on. I get the same from music, so bring on aural dependency as well. In fact I am dependent on so many things but take them out and I am not seeing the point in having a pulse. Being alive is only alive if you are experiencing life deeply, drinking it in as you want. If you have balance, like good wine, like this wine, then you live. You are only one aortic dissection away from the black and only one great sunrise, run, book, song, sonata, wine from the same.

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  4/7/2022 - Rieslingfan wrote:

  Served blind, and decanted prior to the tasting.
  
  This wine had us all thinking France when first tried. One of the tasters guess "Graves" right off the bat, and that certainly seemed plausible. Elegance, minerality - it fit. There was still a notable level of dusty red fruit, and some cedary/cigar box type aromas. It felt like gracefully aged Bordeaux on a plateau of maturity - all the elements developing on the same path, so the flavors and the structure were in balance. We eventually worked our way to Australia, but only with a million hints. Beautiful bottle in a prime drinking window.

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  10/21/2016 - RN Likes this wine: 94 Points

  Holding its age well. Fading slightly but still very elegant/restrained but at the same time intense. Sign of a good wine after 25 years of bottle age.

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  4/11/2013 - brigcampbell wrote:

  Wow, what a graceful wine. Tasted double blind. I guessed cabernet sauvignon and since it lacked the classic Napa flavor profile I went overseas and guessed super Tuscan. The black currant is very bright for such an aged wine with a nice rounded finish of gentle soft tannins.

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  4/10/2013 - Tim Heaton wrote:

  Aerated to decanter 5 hours, which proved just right. Enjoyed over the following 3 hours, this continued to open up right up to the last glass. On first opening, a dead ringer for 96 Ridge Monte Bello, but with each successive pour, it moved more into the 2nd growth left-bank realm. My WOTY so far. Elegance, polish, depth, purity. Simply brilliant stuff. Glad to have been able to share it with Hollowine and brigcampbell. 12,0% abv, drink thru 2018

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