Yarra Yering - 2018, 2019, 2020, & 2021…
Dry Red No. 1
Image sourced from the official Instagram page of Yarra Yering (@yarrayering)
Original photograph by Hugh Davison (@hughdavison_)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 Wine No. 1 2021. I anointed the 2019 vintage Wine of the Year in my inaugural year of editing the Halliday Wine Companion and personally scored it 99 points. The 2021 is unequivocally an even greater wine, with a line and length on an altogether different level. Is this the perfect cabernet blend? It's been nine years since l've rated an Australian table wine 100 points (Grange 2010) and it's time again.
100 points. Drink: 2031-2071."
-Tyson Stelzer
The Artistry of Yarra Yering
In Sep ’08, founder Bailey Carrodus died and in Apr ’09 Yarra Yering was on the market. It was Bailey Carrodus’s clear wish and expectation that any purchaser would continue to manage the vineyard and winery, and hence the wine style, in much the same way as he had done for the previous 40 years. Its acquisition by a small group of investment bankers fulfilled that wish. The low-yielding, unirrigated vineyards have always produced wines of extraordinary depth and intensity.
Dry Red No. 1 is a cabernet blend; Dry Red No. 2 is a shiraz blend; Dry Red No. 3 is a blend of touriga nacional, tinta cão, tinta roriz, tinta amarela, alvarelhão and sousão. The Underhill is from a single block of shiraz planted in 1973 (from an adjacent vineyard purchased by Yarra Yering in ’87).
“Sarah Crowe was appointed winemaker after the ’13 vintage. She has made red wines of the highest imaginable quality right from the start, transitioning the range to screw caps. For good measure, she also introduced the Light Dry Red Pinot Shiraz in ’14 and was named Winemaker of the Year 2017.”
James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion
Yarra Yering 2021 Vintage Report
The 2021 harvest was a welcome return to decent yields after the tiny 2020 harvest. A cool start to the growing season once again and ample moisture fell throughout the winter and spring period refilling the soil profile and then some. This meant a busy season in the vineyard with canopy management and mildew control. Flowering was thankfully uninterrupted this year resulting in good berry set and hence the good yields. The season was relatively mild with regular rainfall. Only one heat spike in late January when we applied sunscreen to protect the early varieties from any damage. Immediately following this heat spike, we experienced 70mm of rain for a total of 134mm in January. The average being just 34mm this wasn’t ideal but the weather then cleared up and we had 6 weeks of perfect weather leading into harvest. Vintage conditions were unhurried with the dry and cool weather, perfect conditions for vibrant acid retention and long even ripening meaning complex flavour development and moderate alcohols. With ideal conditions for cool climate viticulture, ample hang time in the vineyard, the 2021 vintage is a belter across all varieties, we couldn’t ask for much more.
purewine.co
2021 Dry Red No.1 - Accolades & Reviews
Platinum Medal, 97 Points – Decanter World Wine Awards 2023
Gold Medal, 2022 Melbourne Royal Wine Awards
Gold Medal, Yarra Valley Wine Show 2022
Gold Medal, 2023 Royal Queensland Wine Show
4.5 stars, 2023 Winewise Championship
100 Points – Tyson Stelzer, Wine Press
98 Points - Halliday Wine Companion 2024
98 Points – Huon Hooke, The Real Review
96 Points – Ned Goodwin for James Suckling
Langton’s Classified, “Outstanding”
"Deep, bright purple-red colour with a bouquet of cassis, mulberry, blackberry and some hints of peat-moss, nori and dried herbs. In the mouth, it’s finely tuned and tensioned, elegantly weighted and structured with intensity and drive, the tannins fine grained and perfectly matched to the flavour. Long, long carry. It drinks superbly now but leave it alone for a few years and watch it grow and build more detail. Very stylish wine."
98 Points Huon Hooke, The Real Review
Our Price: $145
Our Other Top Picks from Yarra Yering
Underhill Shiraz (750ml) 2018 | Our Price $145
A wine with long fingers and arms. It was grown on a single block of shiraz, planted in '73. It eats elegance for breakfast, berried fruit for lunch, herb and wood spice notes for afters. Plum, char, smoked herbs, fresh red cherries, a slip of creamy/smoky oak. The balance of this wine is an experience in itself. Best of all: it pushes out gloriously through the finish.
96 points, Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Companion
Underhill Shiraz (750ml) 2020 | Our Price, $135
From a 3.2ha block of shiraz, planted on the far western side at Yarra Yering in 1973. Half was fermented with 20% whole bunches in one 3,500L old oak cask, pressed and returned to this cask to mature for 12 months. The other half was matured in puncheons for 12 months. A very bright, medium crimson purple Medium bodied and elegant, this has terrific viscosity and the tannins are oh, so powdery and fine. Gorgeous now and over the next 10 years or longer.
97 Points Philip Rich, The Wine Companion
Good depth of red-purple colour. Clove and almond-meal aromas, a slight peppery note, beautifully bunchy, while the palate is lean and taut, well balanced and medium bodied. The tannins tighten it up at the finish and the length is medium-long and firm, suggesting it will respond well to cellaring. A lovely wine with drive and elegance.
96 Points Huon Hooke, The Real Review
Underhill Shiraz (750ml) 2021 | Our Price $130
Trophy, Best Shiraz – Yarra Valley Wine Show 2022
Gold Medal – Rutherglen Wine Show 2022
Gold Medal – 2022 Melbourne Royal Wine Awards
Gold Medal – Yarra Valley Wine Show 2022
Gold Medal, 95 Points – Decanter World Wine Awards
Sourced from a single block planted in 1973. Fermented with a combination of whole bunches and whole berries. Half the wine was fermented and matured in a 3500L French foudre (purchased in 2019), the other half in French puncheons (10% new). A medium–deep and very bright crimson. Lifted and immediately appealing with its aromas of black raspberries and violets alongside a cornucopia of spices including cracked black pepper, anise and fennel seeds. A gorgeous medium-weighted, intensely flavoured and long Yarra Valley shiraz with enough tannin to suggest patience will be rewarded. Great stuff. 02/08/2023
98 Points Philip Rich, Halliday Wine Companion
Dry Red No.2 (750ml) 2018 | Our Price $145
Impeccable form. There’s a sweetness to the fruit and a savouriness to the finish, redcurrant and twists of herbs, with floral overtones and oak as garnish. It’s smooth skinned but not syrupy; it’s a wine in complete control. Not a question mark in sight.
95 Points, Campbell Mattinson, 2021 Halliday Wine Companion
Dry Red No.2 (375ml) 2019 | Our Price $60
Very youthful purple colour with crimson at the core, the bouquet similarly youthful and bright, with spicy, meaty-charcuterie, confit cherry and gentle oak-char aromas of great character. Some floral grace notes emerge with time in the glass. The wine is full-bodied yet very elegant, with an effortlessness to its drive and intensity, without heaviness or excessive grip. Long, long carry. A lovely, graceful wine that drinks well already but will surely last a couple of decades.
97 points, Huon Hooke, The Real Review
Dry Red No.2 (750ml) 2020 | Our Price $135
With 3% mataro and 1% viognier, the latter added as skins to some of the fermenters.Matured 15 months in French barriques (30% new). A deep crimson red. Concentrated with redcurrants, satsuma plums and blackberries along with fennel seed, olive tapenande, dark chocolate powder and a little fresh vanilla from the oak. A complete wine on the palate with its dark sour-cherry fruit, a slight savoury edge and firm, very fine tannins providing the structure for this to age well into the decade and beyond.
96 Points Philip Rich, Wine Companion
Deep, bright red with purple glints, the bouquet is spicy and lifted, with clove and nutmeg nuances foremost, while the palate has those same flavours plus a note of walnut, and is taut and drying on the finish and follow-through. A more elegant iteration of shiraz, with fine tannins and already very approachable. Fresh acidity is evident on the finish. Good length and harmony. (3% mataro, 1% viognier)
95 Points Huon Hooke, The Real review
Dry Red No.2 (750ml) 2021 | Our Price $130
A blend of 96/2/1/1% shiraz/viognier/marsanne/mataro from 1969, 1980s and 1990s plantings. Fermented with whole berries and matured in barriques (30% new). A deep, bright crimson. Ripe with dark fruits, spice rack spices and a gentle waft of cedar. A rich, ripe mouthful of wine with firm, classic, old-school Yarra Yering tannins. An interesting contrast between this, the Underhill Shiraz and the Carrodus Shiraz, the No. 2 red may end up being the most long-lived of this terrific trio in 2021. 19/06/2023
96 Points Philip Rich, Halliday Wine Companion
Deep, bright colour and a marvellous array of spice aromas, the full spice cupboard, infused with some meaty/charcuterie nuances and the overall impression is of stacks of umami. The wine is medium-full bodied and it has intensity and drive without excessive weight, the tannins chiming in with drying grip and sapidity as it drives long on the finish and resonates through its authoritative aftertaste. Superb. (2% viognier, 1% each of marsanne and mataro). 09/06/2023
98 Points Huon Hooke, The Real Review
Purchase through the online store now, or alternatively fill in the the form below to put an order in!