The gold standard for Australia’s classic blend, this six-bottle, four-vintage vertical of Yalumba’s Signature should bolster your cellar or replace the wines you’ve already opened. In this pack, you’ll receive two bottles each of the 2015, 2014, and 2013 vintages.
The Signature Cabernet Shiraz was first made in 1962. Each release is a ‘salute to an employee or person who has made a significant contribution to the culture and traditions of the company’. The Cabernet and Shiraz grapes derive from old vine material in the Eden Valley and Barossa Valley. After batch-vinification, the wine completes fermentation in barrel, followed by maturation in Yalumba-coopered new and seasoned American and French oak. It is typified by rich plum/dark chocolate/panforte aromas and flavours, dense, chalky tannins, superb generosity of fruit and underlying savoury oak. Langton's Classified since 2010. Promoted to the 'Outstanding' category in 2018.
Deep red colour with a good purple tint and a mellow bouquet of earthy, nutty, faintly spicy Barossa character rather than varietal. It's full-bodied and very savoury, with abundant drying, earthy tannins and a rich, lingering finish and aftertaste. An interesting style, down-playing primary fruit and emphasising savouriness and tannin, but not oaky as they used to be. The tannins are mouthcoating and supple, ripe and classy. Good concentration and a very long carry. An impressive and delicious wine. (52% cabernet, 42% shiraz; about 20% new oak. Signatory is viticulturist Darrell Kruger)
95 points, The Real Review (May 2019)
This couldn’t be more ocker. Succulent, long, medium weight and hemmed with beautiful tannins, this is a good release of this wine and revels in a little elegance over assumed grunt, though you won’t miss the tongue grapple of the finish. Blueberries, dusty notes, ferrous character, clove, and some cocoa powder. Travels long and well. Delivers that sweet and earthy mesh of both varieties so clearly. It’s very charming.
94+ points, The Wine Front (February 2020)
A seamless affair. Tobacco, blackcurrant, plum and malty oak sing in beautiful harmony, firm tannin singing from the same integrated songbook. Mint and dried herb notes make qualified contributions too. It doesn't have a lot of spunk, but it puts not a foot wrong.
94 points, Wine Companion (February 2019)
Matured for 20 months in French, Hungarian and American oak. This ticks all the boxes, a rock of ages in the storm of Yalumba reds coming onto the market, led by The Cayley, but numerous others seeking your company. The blackcurrant and blackberry fruit are in total harmony, and the overall texture is of a high order thanks to the oak management, as well as that of the tannins. A standout from a vintage that had its challenges.
96 points, Wine Companion (February 2017)
Pitch perfect on the nose, palate and finish. This is in superb form. Berried, chocolatey, laced with licorice, scattered with dry, fragrant herbs and topped with pure coffee-like flavour. It feels both alive and dense, it’s scaffolded by an assertive range of tannin, it’s lifted by mint-like tips, and it reaches far through the finish/aftertaste. Perfect red for the cellar.
96 points, The Wine Front (August 2018)
An elegant vintage. Deep red colour with a tinge of purple, the bouquet herbal and dark-fruited, with touches of smoke and char, the shiraz showing out clearly. The wine is medium to full-bodied and slightly firmer on the finish than the '13. Not as deep or powerful as that vintage. (Slated for a May 2018 release)
95 points, The Real Review (October 2017)
Slightly lighter in body than previous vintages but no less delicious. Excellent brightness, succulence and harmony with the cabernet sauvignon and shiraz components perfectly synchronised. It is gently fleshy, with appropriate framing tannin. This year's signatory is Chris Greening, a now-retired dedicated employee who rose through the ranks to become a State Sales Manager. His story, outlined on the back label, ends with the quote, "To love and be loved is my greatest joy. Wine and music complete the trifecta." I'll drink to that.
95 points, The Real Review (August 2018)
Deep, rich red colour with lots of purple, the bouquet blackberry and violets, smoky char and very shirazzy, with traces of herbs and mint. The palate is concentrated and dense, with lots of grip. Chocolate - and even some rum-and-raisin chocolate - on the palate. A very deep, powerful, long-term wine. Most impressive.
96 points, The Real Review (October 2017)
Colonel William Light, the South Australian colony’s Surveyor-General, named the Barossa in 1837 after the site of an English victory over the French in the Spanish Peninsular War. In the mid-1800’s Silesian and English immigrants settled in the area. The Barossa itself comprises two distinct sub-regions: Eden Valley and the warmer Barossa Valley floor at 270m.The Barossa Valley enjoys a warm Mediterranean climate characterised by hot dry summers and relatively low rainfall. Cool sea breezes from the Gulf of St Vincent modify the temperature, however hot northerly winds can occasionally dominate creating considerable vine stress. Many older established vineyards are dry-grown, but supplementary irrigation is also extensively used. The valley is comprised of rich brown soils and alluvial sands. A long history of uninterrupted viticulture in the area means the Barossa valley is home to Australia’s largest concentration of old-vine Shiraz, Grenache and Mourvedre with many over 100 years old. Although most famous for Shiraz, the Barossa can also produce fragrant and deliciously fruity Grenache blends and beautifully rich, chocolatey Cabernet Sauvignons.
Samuel Smith established Yalumba in 1849 and 165 years later descendant Robert Hill Smith now presides over Australia's oldest family owned wine company. Yalumba owns vineyards and sources fruit primarily in the Barossa and Coonawarra. Robert Hill-Smith manages to combine conservatism and tradition with up-to-date winemaking technology and thinking. Yalumba produces a considerable number of different wines across the price-point spectrum from a multitude of varieties, all with a focus on quality, varietal and regional expression. The strong winemaking team is headed up by Louisa Rose, a brilliantly intuitive winemaker whose white wines are some of the best in the country.
