Barossa 13.5% Screwcap $35 Source: Retail
My thanks go out to Edward, who publishes the most excellent blog Wino sapien, for alerting me to the existence of this bizarre but wonderful blend from the Yalumba stables. You can read his thoughts on the 2007 here. I’ll post a note on the previous vintage.
I found the apricot quite pronounced and jammy. But I also thought it had a strange synergy with everything else going on. Vivid red fruit, fresh yellow plum and a garden bed of roses also waft out of the glass.
Velvet-like but juicy on entry before the more savoury flavours I associate with Tempranillo assert themselves. Great mouth-feel & texture, and a good amount of quality tannin which carries the finish through its focused and long conclusion. There’s blue and black fruits on the mid-palate and a nice sour edge hovering around. Some ginger too, which could be the Viognier or the Hungarian oak. A touch of meatiness completes a complex and totally satisfying wine that only got better as it breathed. Great to see a win for this sort of “explorative blending”.
Winery Website- http://www.yalumba.com/
Jeremy,
Thanks for the shout out. One of the many joys of being a wine blogger is reading the many different opinions on the various bottles you have tried or heard of. The danger and down side is of course the decline your work productivity!
Hey Jeremy,
As time goes on I find myself more and more interested in different blends and varieties that I haven't yet come across. I like the concept of wines like this for that reason; a point of difference.
Dave
Edward- It's my pleasure. The more I blog, the more I come to appreciate the differences as well as the areas opinions overlap. Juggling the blog, work and everything else in life is indeed a challenge! Fortunately there are, as you point out, so many rewards making it worthwhile.
Totally with you Dave.
One common "wine narrative" suggests that, as we explore wine, we increasingly desire subtlety and finesse. I call that "the Pinot narrative" and there is, of course, some truth in it. But another narrative is running its own course for myself and so many other wine lovers I know; a quest for difference.
This wine is certainly more than just a temp/grenache blend even if the Viognier accounts for only 5%. As such, I think it does provide that point of difference you mention.
cheers
jeremy