On my second day in the Yarra Valley, after spending the morning with Steve and the Scandinavians looking around De Bortoli, I went to visit a few wineries recommended by some of the guys from the day before.

 

I first made a stop at Yering Station, which sells itself as ‘Victoria’s first vineyard’ established back in 1838 and uses its historical old winery buildings as the cellar door and shop. I started my tasting with some of the sparkling wines that the Yarra Valley is famous – Moët’s Australian cousin, ‘Chandon’ is down the road… (click here for a crash-course in champagne and sparkling wines, a fellow wine-blogger Aaron Eppstein has recently written)

 

First up was the Yarrabank Cuvée 2003, which was a little temperamental that day… the first five bottles that the guys opened not apparently showing the wine at it’s best. I had thought the wines acceptable, if a little underwhelming, but tasting the sixth that they opened, I could see why they hadn’t wanted anyone misjudge it – a real classic fresh Champenoise style with dry toast and a zing of lemon citrus, perhaps a little rounder on the finish than most champagnes, but if I tasted it again blind, I doubt I’d be able to tell it wasn’t from Champagne. The Yarrabank ‘Late Disgorged’ 1999 was actually a bit less elegant, it had a deeper fruit character on the nose than most wines from Champagne, along with rich yeast and toast aromas from the extended ageing on it’s lees. On the palate, it was equally rich, dry with a creamy texture, the slightly over-the-top sibling of the two.

 

 

 

Of the still Yering Station wines I had, I enjoyed the Reserve Shiraz Viognier 2005 the most – not a style I had associated with the region, the addition of this aromatic white grape to Shiraz is a practice that originates in the Northern Rhône, but it’s a style that has become very popular in recent years here in Australia too. This Yering Station Reserve is a polished and very serious example with aromas reminding me of an antique oak table, deep intense fruit and more oak on the palate, along with well structured tannins. All this does come at a price, but for those of us who can’t afford to be drinking $64 wines every day, the regular Yering Station Shiraz Viognier 2006 ($24) isn’t as hardcore as the reserve, but is very appealing already, and has a lot going on. Meaty and slightly musky on the nose, with dark berry bruit underneath. The palate follows up with slightly dusty perfume along with rich juicy fruit – really sumptuous texture, with some warm clove spice on the finish.

 

 

Nowadays the production, as well as swanky restaurant are housed in the impressive new crescent-shaped building looking out over the valley. As with a number of large modern wineries I’ve been to, this is a side project of a successful industrialist, this one built on Agrichemicals. The set-up is very impressive, and comes complete with helicopter pad and often has several landing each day – it’s an easy hop by chopper up from Melbourne for lunch!