-
98
/ 100
James Halliday's Wine Companion -
100
/
Tyson Stelzer
Red
Classification
Cabernet Blend
Variety
2021
Vintage
750ml (Bottle)
Bottle Size
Australia
Country
Victoria, Yarra Valley
Region
13.5%
Alcohol %
15 Plus Years
Cellaring
Scores
98 / 100"A blend of 60/24/11/5% cabernet sauvignon/merlot/malbec/petit verdot, the cabernet coming from the original 1969-planted vineyard. Matured in French oak (40% new). A deep, bright crimson purple. Bordeaux-like with its aromas of cassis, iodine, bay leaf and some olive tapenade. The oak is already well integrated. Powerful and balanced with lots of layers. Ripe, chewy tannins course through the wine's concentrated fruit, yet the overall impression is one of balance and harmony. A serious and complete cabernet."
- James Halliday's Wine Companion
100 /
"The unique ability of Cabernet Sauvignon to unite the contrasts of perfumed lightness with deep concentration, grace with structure and elegance with enduring longevity is unparalleled in the wine world. Its finest expressions are at once emphatically fragrant and lighter than air and yet deeper, more concentrated, more enduring and more structured. No Australian wine of modern era exemplifies this profound juxtaposition more emphatically than Yarra Yering Dry Red No.1 2021."
- Tyson Stelzer
Tasting Notes
The first plantings at Yarra Yering into block No. 1 were these Cabernet vines and the name was born. The Malbec was also part of the original 1969 plantings. Merlot vines were originally inter-planted with the Cabernet with subsequent plantings made in 1990 on the newly acquired neighbouring land along with the Petit Verdot.
Wine Making:
All hand harvested and sent across a sorting table, only the very best berries go into this wine. The Cabernet fruit is individually berry sorted before being crushed to build structure through fermentation. Merlot, Malbec and Petit Verdot are whole berry ferments for fragrance and to build palate weight. The majority fermented in half-tonne fermenters and hand plunged twice daily. One third of the Cabernet component fermented in a brand new 3500L upright oak cask and spending 8 weeks on skins for complexity and to build the savoury component. All matured in French oak, 40% new until blending after 15 months barrel maturation.
Black berry fruits and a rustic iodine feel compliment some bay leaf adding a background herbal lift. Mixed brown spices and a hint of oak; flavour and tannin. Beautiful fruit, refreshing acidity and fine tannins form a solid foundation for a long future. Complex but not intimidating, always exciting to watch evolve.
Tasting Profile
- Light
- Full
- Low Tannin
- Tannic
- Sweet
- Dry
- Low Acidity
- High Acidity