Yalumba
There's more to Rhône varieties than Shiraz
Barossa-based Yalumba has been around for more than 150 years, which may help explain why owner Robert Hill Smith doesn't feel the need to squeeze every dollar out of every bottling. The wines, in fact, deliver solid quality at every level, from the single-digit-priced Oxford Landing bottlings to the limited-production reserve wines such as The Octavius at $80.
The sweet spot for Yalumba wines is in the $10 to $30 range, and the label focuses on Rône varieties other than Shiraz, especially Grenache and Viognier. Grenache was a no-brainer. Like Shiraz, it had been grown in Barossa originally as material for Port and other fortified wines; Yalumba owns one patch with vines that were planted in the 19th century.
But only recently have winemakers started putting the remaining old vines to use in dry table wines patterned after those of France's Southern Rône, where Grenache is a star.
"At Yalumba, we had two or three growers who were selling it to us for fortified wines," says chief winemaker Brian Walsh. "And in 1992, we decided to try a varietal Grenache. We thought it was a folly, but we liked it."
Walsh aims to make Yalumba's Grenache perfumy and easy to drink. "There's a tendency to buff up Grenache, build it up with Shiraz or make it very dense," he notes. "I like to keep it like Grenache, with all its raspberry and violet flavors, rather than a Shiraz look-alike."
Yalumba's Bush Vine Grenache, at $15 (89 points for the 2000 version), is plump and fruity and goes down smoothly. Even the $30 Tricentenary Vines (2000, 88 points), so called because the vines span the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries, keeps a sense of lightness to go along with the deep flavors.
Yalumba is also a leader with Viognier, partly the result of Peter Wall, the winery's former managing director, visiting Condrieu (the grape's home in France) and, upon his return, encouraging a grower adjacent to the winery to plant some. When Walsh arrived at the winery in 1988, "We just made it [Viognier] like we made Riesling," he recalls. "We would look at it and say, 'What a useless variety.'"
Sam Adams at Voss (Yalumba's partner winery in Napa Valley), on a visit to Australia, reminded Walsh of the roles Viognier plays in France. "In 1997, we tried making it along the same lines as they do in the Rône, and it showed us a whole new flavor profile."
Yalumba makes more Viognier than anyone else in Australia, including a Y Series bottling (88, $10 for the 2002) and an Eden Valley wine (88, $18 for the 2001) that has a bit more depth. Walsh also blends Viognier with Shiraz to make a beautifully focused red (1999: 91, $30) with a thread of exotic spice weaving through it.
St. Hallett
Barossa
Now part of the growing Lion-Nathan wine group, this winery built its reputation under origional owner Bob McLean on Old Block Shiraz, using old vines from independent growers scattered about Barossa. The recently added Blackwell Shiraz, named for current winery-manager and founding winemaker Stuart Blackwell, delivers even more bang for the buck (the 1998 scored 93 points, $25). The drink-me-now Gamekeeper's blends provide lots of pleasure for around $10 a bottle. Watch for a luscious Grenache, coming soon.
Tatachilla
McLaren Vale
Also recently acquired by Lion-Nathan, this winery has always kept one eye on value. The big winners in that regard are the $25 Adelaide Hills Chardonnay, which has scored 92 points in three consecutive vintages, and the $20 McLaren Vale Shiraz, which came into its own with the 1998 vintage (92 points). Tatachilla keeps the value quotient up with other wines, too, by blending grapes from these regions with fruit from warmer vineyards.
Yangarra Park
South Australia
Kendall-Jackson's Australian project uses grapes from its own 400-acre vineyard, the former Normans estate in Clarendon Hills, augmented by purchased fruit from all over South Australia. The initial wines, from the 2000 vintage, provided very good quality at $10, with all but the Cabernet rating 85 or more points. Winemaker Peter Fraser is betting big on the next wave of wines (expected later this year), which will be priced a bit higher. Preview tastings in Australia suggest the finished wines will be worth anticipating, especially an estate Grenache made from 70-year-old vines.
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