1991 Yarra Yering Dry Red N°1- Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Yarra Valley (4/7/2022)
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.
First met Dr Bailey Carrodus in 1995 when taking some friends from California to the Yarra Valley. They were struck by the quality of the wines. They are wines of personality and character and excellent ageing ability. A bit like Dr Carrodus in fact. He always said he made wines for his own palate and if others liked them well that was a nice coincidence. James Halliday was so impressed with the Yarra Yering wines he bought the neighbouring property which he named Coldstream Hills. James Halliday characterised the YY wines as being of the highest quality and said that it was remarkable that the YY wines were raised in 100% new french oak yet showed absolutely no sign of oakiness - a tribute to the quality of the fruit he said.
Always had a real soft spot for the Yarra Yering wines. We enjoyed the 1990 in a similar vein to the 1991 about 2 years ago. The wines from the mid to late 1990s are still firing on all cylinders.
Yarra Yerring and Mount Mary, the 2 best producers in the Yarra for me, seem like great evidence that there should be more Cabernet (and Shiraz for that matter) and less Pinot in the valley.