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Yalumba, Barossa Valley
Langton’s Selections
Yalumba The Octavius Shiraz, Yalumba The Reserve Cabernet Shiraz, Yalumba Signature Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz, Yalumba Menzies Cabernet Sauvignon, Yalumba The Virgilius Viognier, Yalumba Tricentenary Vines Grenache
Samuel Smith established the Yalumba winery in 1849. It is Australia’s oldest family wine company. Yalumba owns vineyards and sources fruit primarily in the Barossa and Coonawarra. Robert Hill-Smith, who presides over the family enterprise, has managed to combine conservatism and tradition with up-to-date winemaking technology and thinking. Indeed he is something of a visionary. He has had a strong winemaking team for years in the form of the hugely influential Brian Walsh and Louisa Rose – a brilliantly intuitive winemaker whose white wines are some of the best in the country.
Yalumba The Octavius is made from dry grown Shiraz with an average age of around 85-90 years, the oldest from a vineyard planted in 1908. The wines are matured for two years in small American oak Octaves (barrels of 80 litres) coopered at Yalumba winery. Missouri timbers are left out in the elements for eight years to leach out undesirable flavours in the oak. With a higher than normal surface area-to-wine ratio, Octavius is a wine of great richness, intensity and power. Its pronounced vanillin, blackberry/liquorice aromas, ripe tannins, sweet fruit and extract, all suggest longevity. The wine is beautifully made and deserves a reputation as one of the Barossa’s best Shirazes. It is tremendous to see The Octavius reach a new level of stardom.
The Yalumba Reserve Cabernet Shiraz is made only in special vintages from prime parcels of Barossa and smaller tranches of Coonawarra and Langhorne Creek fruit. It is usually never more than a 20 barrel selection. The Menzies – named after Australia’s longest serving prime minister (and wine aficionado of some note) – is a Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon vinified along typical Bordelais lines and is matured in 33% new French oak hogsheads for up to 24 months.
The Signature, first vintage in 1962, is a Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz blend partially barrel fermented and matured in a combination of new and old American and French oak hogsheads. Each vintage honours the contribution of key staffers from winemakers to sales persons. The 1999 was dedicated to all Yalumba employees past and present to celebrate 150 years. The Signature has become such a wonderful wine institution. With a lineage of four decades and proven cellaring potential it deserves recognition as a great Australian wine.
The fabulous Virgilius Viognier, the finest of its ilk in Australia, is an utterly seductive style with a heady perfume and beautifully focussed flavours. However its aging potential is only short to medium term. This is great wine but not a long term proposition. Yalumba is capable of making great wine. The 2000 FDR1A Cabernet & Shiraz is homage to the legendary 1974 vintage of the same name. Yalumba makes an extraordinary range of wines but the team is keenly focussed. There isn’t really a dud among its pack of cards. The handpicked series comprising such beauties as the Tricentenary Vines Grenache, including some of the oldest Grenache vine material in the Barossa, are wonderful experiences.
Yalumba is a great Australian wine institution. If Penfolds Grange is a secondary wine market indicator, Yalumba is an industry bell-weather. Its ongoing success is hugely important for the confidence and positive sentiment of the overall Australian wine industry. It behoves the market to seek Yalumba’s top wines out!
Andrew Caillard MW, Langton's
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