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The Occasion

On Saturday August 19th, we were delighted to share with club members, a wine not made since 2017, our 2021 Scarlett Pinot Noir. Officially launched on 1 August, the Scarlett Release Dinner attendees were among the first to experience the otherworldly beauty of this special wine.

Hosted in Society’s ‘West Private Dining Room’ in Melbourne’s CBD, we showcased the 99-point flagship 2021 Scarlett release, and celebrated 10-years of Scarlett with an incredible line up spanning the four releases: 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2021. Attendees tasted their way through a specially curated 6-course menu, matched with these outstanding Pinot Noir wines, along with our 2017 Yarrabank Cuvee, 2021 Reserve Chardonnay & 2021 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon.

The Team

Engagement by Rod Harrison (chief viticulturalist), Darren Rathbone (CEO and group winemaker), Brendan Hawker (chief winemaker) and Guillaume Bonange (brand ambassador).

The Wine of Honour

As with our best parcel of Shiraz in Coldstream, Nathan Scarlett also identified a 3-acre patch of Pinot Noir amongst a greater 6.7-acre block at our Yering Station vineyard where the topsoil was significantly deeper than the rest. The vines here are less stressed and more vigorous, resulting in fruit that boasts an effortless balance and an inherently powerful purity. Hand harvested, this wine’s fruit was split into two small fermenters – one with 20% whole bunches and the other completely destemmed. Gentle maceration followed a cold soak. Post-pressing, the wine was barrelled down for maturation in a mix of 500L and 228L French oak for 9 months. After careful barrel selection the final blend reflects 3% whole bunch and 29% new oak.

“There’s a vibrancy and luminosity here unlike almost any other Aussie Pinot Noir. If you’re serious about your Pinots then this small volume beauty should be on your bucket list.” Ray Jordan, Wine Pilot | 99 points

Thank you

Thank you to everyone that attended, and made the night as special as it was. We greatly appreciate the interactions we had with every one of you, and can’t wait for the next chance to catchup and celebrate all things Yering Station.

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Today marks the proud release of the 2021 Scarlett, our pinnacle Pinot Noir. This release is the first of such calibre since 2017 and the fourth ever-release, preceded by the 2013, 2015 and 2017 vintages.

The Scarlett Pinot Noir is our finest wine produced at Yering Station, with every vintage analysed to determine worthiness of the esteemed Scarlett label. This year the 2021 Scarlett has well and truly performed to such standards, creating a beautifully vibrant, premium Yarra Valley Pinot Noir.

The origin story

The Scarlett is a very special label, born out of the precision viticulture program led by Yering Station’s late chief viticulturalist Nathan Scarlett. Nathan identified a 3-acre patch of Pinot Noir amongst the greater 6.7-acre Y07 block at our Yering Station vineyard, a patch that had significantly deeper topsoil than the rest. The vines in this patch are less stressed and more vigorous, resulting in fruit that boasts an effortless balance and an inherently powerful purity.

The 2021 Scarlett, like those of the past, is picked exclusively from this Y07 vineyard, and produced only in the best growing years. Hand harvested, this wine’s fruit was split into two small fermenters – one with 20% whole bunches and the other completely destemmed. Gentle maceration followed a cold soak. Post-pressing, the wine was barrelled down for maturation in a mix of 500L and 228L French oak for 9 months. After careful barrel selection the final blend reflects 3% whole bunch and 29% new oak.

This resulted in an ever-expanding wine of perfumed fruit and spices, with elegant, structured tannins leading into a long, fruitful and deeply complex finish. To be enjoyed now or patiently cellared for upwards of 10 years.

“Unlike almost any other Aussie Pinot Noir” – Ray Jordan, Wine Pilot | 99 points

The 2021 Scarlett has been awarded 99pts by Ray Jordan of Wine Pilot, described as having a “combination of ethereal beauty and immense power” with “a vibrancy and luminosity unlike almost any other Aussie Pinot Noir.”

To find out more about the 2021 Scarlett and its supporting flagship Reserves, read what the Halliday Wine Companion had to say here.

With the 2017 Scarlett also receiving a 99 point rating, from James Halliday himself, the 2021 Scarlett is in good company. Watch this space.

Find the 2021 Scarlett Pinot Noir online via our website, or in cellar door.

Pillars of time, place and effort. Our 2021 Flagship Reserve release has landed.
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Today we are thrilled to announce the release of our four exceptional 2021 Reserve wines, marking 185 years since the initial vines were planted at Yering Station.

Each year we release our very best wine as flagship Reserves. Only the most premium fruit is channelled into this collection, meaning some years there may be as few as one sole standout wine. This year however, we are proud to release a quartet for the first time since 2019, the collection also marking Brendan ‘Hawk’ Hawker’s first end-to-end flagship release as chief winemaker.

2021 in the vineyards…

“It’s a beautiful thing working in agriculture. The workflow is dictated by the seasons and the weather and conditions experienced in the vineyards are reflected in the living product of the wines themselves.” – Brendan Hawker

Vintage 2021 commenced with abnormally wet conditions in the Yarra Valley region. Typically, the property receives 34mm of rainfall in January, however in 2021 the sites were shocked by 135mm demanding more intensive vineyard management than average. Despite the trepidation this might have caused the team, spirits remained high as they joked about the Friday afternoon rainfall that tormented them, coming down right in time for some extra weekend work to be added to the schedule.

By February however, the days became cooler, and the rain eased, creating perfect conditions for premium cool climate wine production leading into harvest. Such conditions facilitated a longer ripening period, whilst maintaining the acidity of the fruit, leading to the production of complex flavour profiles and moderate alcohol levels, presented most exquisitely in the 2021 Reserves.

Don’t just take our word for it.

The 2021 Reserves have already demanded attention from the industry, with Shanteh Wale from Wine Pilot awarding the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon 98pts, describing it as “utterly stunning”, and Ray Jordan describing the 2021 Reserve Pinot Noir to be “a wine of tremendous presence and poise”.  Halliday Wine Companion’s piece further speaks to the significance of this release, available to read here.

These wines are produced with ability to drink now, or patiently cellar for the next 10+ years. Available now online or via cellar door.

While the Yarra Valley growing season went into the books as one of the toughest we’ve ever faced, harvest culminated into somewhat of a perfect storybook ending. “We’ve grown some of the best fruit we’ve seen, particularly Pinot Noir and Chardonnay”, says Rod.
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Passion and perseverance were the two all-important pillars that kept our team motoring through Winter and Spring. August through to December saw some of the wettest months on record with severe flooding experienced across the region. Access to our vineyards was greatly impacted, with flooding rendering our sites almost impossible to get to without getting bogged.

“Our focus was solely on preventing disease; we were in survival mode. We’re a modest viticulture team of four who cover our five sites. 100 hectares in total. The pressure on each member was high.” When the sun came out in January, we rejoiced and so too did our varieties. We were elated to see our vineyards reasonably fruitful, even our younger sites, in contrast to the travesty faced by many of our neighbours.

“An absolute testament to how hard our vineyard team has battled over those months” Brendan reflects.

The picking of our heartland varieties, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, began almost a full three weeks later than usual. Remarkably, only one parcel of fruit was picked in February. Despite the delay, pleasant conditions made picking a breeze. Perfectly warm days and cool nights meant fruit parcels could be delivered to the winery without any haste. In fact, the longer, drawn-out vintage meant that every block and variety had all the time they respectively required.

Of what to expect of our Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from 2023, Brendan speaks to “low baume, high natural acidities and a high concentration of flavour.” Brendan adds, regarding our Shiraz and Cabernet
Sauvignon, “for these later ripening reds, we can expect a year of wildly perfumed and wonderfully elegant wines.”

Our last picks took place on April 21st, drawing the season to a close with Cabernet. In typical style, it was tools down and off to celebrate with a tradition of barbeque and beers.

With harvest on the horizon, we sat down with Rod Harrison to reflect on the challenges and triumphs of this year’s uncharacteristic Yarra Valley growing season.
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Q: Talk to us about some of the severe and challenging conditions you faced in November + December.
ROD: November’s conditions were the most challenging I have faced in 25 years. We were moving into the summer months, yet we were breaking monthly rainfall records. Intense flooding, high humidity and disease pressure like nothing else. Our opportunities to spray for these diseases were extremely limited and we found ourselves working split shifts in tractors to cover ground. We’re a modest viticulture team of four who cover our five sites, 100 hectares in total, so the pressure on each member was high. We found ourselves giving our weekends away to Mother Nature as it seemed the best conditions to spray were over a Saturday and Sunday. Although our five vineyards are in a 10-minutes’ vicinity of one another, their respective slope and soil types yielded different challenges. Our Carr and Laura Barnes vineyards would intensely pool with water due to their very flat aspects and saturated clay loam soils, for example.

Q: What was a day-in-the-life like during that time?
ROD: Our focus was solely on preventing disease; we were in survival mode. A typical day would start at 2am for half of the team, as the wind seemed to be less of a problem at that hour. They would start a program with 2 spray-carts and work through the morning. We’d then have the other half of the team ready to take over to continue through the day if the conditions were still okay enough. On some mornings, starting early wouldn’t be possible if the dew point was too high resulting in wet canopies. these types of mornings, it’d hold us up until daylight  broke. Pulling bogged tractors out of the muddied depths also tended to hold us up a bit, although we seemed to get a kick out of it in the end.

During this intense time, all our usual vineyard practises had to be put on the backburner. Weed control, canopy management, even basic midrow maintenance – they all went out the window as we fought against the wet. When these basic processes couldn’t be executed, we’d start to feel we were failing in some way. Maintaining the unit’s motivation was imperative, considering the crazy hours and time missed out at home with our loved ones. But we did it. It all seems like blur now; I can’t believe we pulled it off. I’m incredibly proud of the four of us and what we achieved.

“I’m incredibly proud of the four of us and what we achieved…”

Q: The weather turned around in January. How did this play out in the vineyards?
ROD: We very much welcomed the change, and the majority of our varieties seemed to rejoice – although we still held some concern with our water-logged Shiraz blocks initially. This variety
never reacts well with excessive rain. We had to use foliar fertiliser sprays on these stressed blocks, which we normally wouldn’t need to, but they reacted incredibly well thankfully. The change in weather has also allowed us to move around better with equipment. We have now had the chance to catch up and make repairs. Soil compaction and wheel ruts in rows have been a huge issue that needing tending to, as well as our headlands and even driveways that were completely washed away during the floods.

Q: How severely were growers and other winery neighbours in the Valley affected?
ROD: It has been devastating to anyone caught off guard with the season’s conditions. I’m hearing a 60 to 100% loss with some growers, particularly anyone trying to grow organically. The Upper Yarra has possibly been hit the hardest. We are extremely fortunate to come out of the season disease free and losing next to nothing. Our crop forecasts show that we’re actually growing more crop than the last two seasons, around 600 tone total. This is an absolute testament to how hard the vineyard team have battled over the last few months.

Q: Now that you’re through it and veraison has started – what’s the outlook looking like for 2023 yields?
ROD: You can imagine how keen we are for vintage now. All our blocks look healthy and fruit full. Our premium blocks are looking naturally well-balanced and won’t require too much manipulation. Given we’ve been able to mitigate disease, fruit quality will be high. The weather forecast moving forward seem positive, with warm days and cool nights expected. Small amounts of rain are predicted, but we can manage that with adjustments to our irrigation program.

With commitment to land comes responsibility.

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Our family of five Yarra Valley vineyards are managed by many patient hands, all of which are devoted to our ongoing sustainability efforts. Our commitment to our land is unerring, with our team constantly seeking out ways to implement new and innovative sustainability practises in our vineyards and winery.

These include, but are not limited to, drip irrigation,  planting cover crops, composting, conscious water consumption and our winery being powered by solar energy.

Read on to discover the full extent of our efforts and why they make a difference.

Discover our 2023 Halliday Wine Companion results, as reviewed by Philip Rich.
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We’re thrilled to present you with our 2023 Halliday Wine Companion results, just announced this morning. These accolades are an absolute testament to the unerring passion and efforts of our dedicated winemaking and viticulture teams, led by Brendan Hawker and Rod Harrison.⁠
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We’re so honoured to be awarded another Top 5-Red Star winery rating, along with incredible scores on our wines. Our Top 5-Red Star winery rating recognises Yering Station as an outstanding winery regularly producing wines of exemplary quality and typicity. A long track record of excellence, having held a 5-star rating continuously for over a decade years – truly considered among the best of the best by the Wine Companion team.⁠

Discover some of our highlights across our current release and soon-to-be-released wines as follows. ⁠
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2020 Reserve Shiraz Viognier, 96 points | Just released online⁠ | Shop here

2020 Reserve Chardonnay, 95 points | Just released online⁠ | Shop here

2020 PDC Single Vineyard Shiraz, 94 points | Releasing October 2022⁠ | Sign up to our loyalty program to be notified when released

2021 Yering Station Pinot Noir, 93 points | Available online ⁠| Shop here

2020 Yering Station Shiraz Viognier, 91 points | Available in the coming months | Shop 2019 here, 95 points

2020 Yering Station GSM, 90 points | Sold out

2021 Village Pinot Noir, 90 points | Available online | Shop here

2021 Village Chardonnay, 90 points | Available online | Shop here 

Pillars of time, place and effort. Our 2020 Reserve Release is here.
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Today marks the proud release of our 2020 Reserve wines. Each August 1st, we release our Reserve wines representing the very best of our Yarra Valley vineyards in a given vintage.

Every year, we continue to stay true to our philosophy and only present Reserves that are worthy of wearing their label with pride. 2020 was a cool ripening season, a surprising two weeks later than the previous set of vintages. Lower crops and several large rain events which pushed picking dates out resulted in long flavour accumulation and high natural acidities, delivering some truly special wines – Chardonnay and Shiraz being the giant standouts.⁠

Releasing with high accolades in tow from celebrated wine writers at Halliday Wine Companion, The Real Review, Wine Front, Wine Pilot and more. ⁠

Wine writers on our 2020 Reserve Chardonnay

“It’s a wine that combines that essential merging in power and elegance.” – Ray Jordan, Wine Pilot | 96 points

“…Oak very subtle and harmonious. Taut and intense in the mouth, with straightforward but deep flavour…” – Huon Hooke, The Real Review | 95 points

“It smells like just-sliced grapefruit with the spritz of zest in the air and the fresh, crisp scent of a cold mid-winter morning before the world has awoken.” – Nicole Bilson, Wine Pilot | 95 points

“As you move to taste, the liveliness of fruit is joined by a marked grapefruit citrussy acidity. That’s the future of the wine right there, the secret to its longevity in bottle.” – Jeni Port, Wine Pilot | 94 points

Wine writers on our 2020 Reserve Shiraz Viognier

“Comfortable in its own skin, this strikes the perfect balance between having excellent depth and concentration whilst remaining elegant and pure.” – Philip Rich, Halliday Wine Companion | 96 points

“A wine of beautifully integrated layers of flavour. It’s all here…” – Jeni Port, Wine Pilot | 96 points

“What a beauty! Black cherries, pressed violets, strawberries and cream – the aromas erupt from the glass as you pour.” – Nicole Bilson, Wine Pilot | 96 points

“It is an exquisite example of how to do it well (blend shiraz and viognier), in fact really well.” – Ray Jordan, Wine Pilot | 95 points

“This is a very fine wine. Grunty but fine… At all points though it looked, tasted and felt authoritative.” – Campbell Mattinson, Wine Front | 94+ points

We sit down and talk all things shiraz with Brendan Hawker this National Shiraz Day. ____________________

Q: What makes Yarra Valley shiraz so special?
A: Grown in our cool climate, Yarra Valley Shiraz has a medium-bodied elegance about it. It is wonderfully diverse, typically with a lot of light and dark spice, red and blue fruits – and purple florals too.

Q: How would you distinguish the hallmark shiraz style at Yering Station?
A: We co-ferment a small percentage (around 3%) of Viognier with our Shiraz. I find this really helps to lift the perfume of the wine and builds a beautiful, velvety palate for which our shiraz wines are known. The addition of viognier always stabilises the wine’s colour of which you can expect a beautifully rich purple ruby.

Q: Our 2020 Reserve shiraz viognier is releasing in a few days’ time, available for sale online and at cellar door, as well as on tasting. What can we expect?
A: A wonderfully complex cool climate shiraz, barrel selected from our best batches of Shiraz from the 2020 vintage. Expect layers of depth and complexity, with berry fruits providing mouth-watering juiciness and fine-tannins delivering a gravelly, almost granitic texture. There’s a darker ferrous element too, which is very compelling. There’s an inherent ageability factor built into all our Reserve wines.

Q: How do you find our Reserve shiraz wines will typically mature throughout their drinking windows?
A: Tannin begins to soften and primary fruit characters evolve into deeper, more complex secondary characters – making for a very elegant and intriguing drink.

Q: How do you typically approach the shiraz winemaking process?
A: We use gravity where we can and macerate quite gently. This brings out balanced tannin structure that isn’t too tough or drying. We also mature our shiraz in a mix of seasoned 500L and new 228L French oak barrels for 15 months, before blending our diverse range of shiraz parcels to make the most complex and engaging wines possible.

Q: Favourite food pairing tips for shiraz?
A: Steak – always steak!

Q: Your Yering Station shiraz pick for this winter?
A: It’s very hard to go past either our Yering Station Shiraz Viognier, or our soon-to-be-released 2020 Reserve Shiraz Viognier for a special occasion.

Congratulations to the six winners of our 2022 Sculpture Exhibition.
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See their works as follows. On show until April 3 indoors and April 25 outdoors.

YERING STATION SCULPTURE AWARD
The Cost of Living, Part One, Paradise Lost by Anton McMurray

 

 

ARNOLD BLOCH LEIBLER SCULPTURE AWARD
Intrigue II by Ben Fasham

 

 

YARRA VALLEY ARTS SCULPTURE AWARD
Remnant 1 by Sarah Coffey
Selected by Yarra Valley Arts

 

 

YERING STATION ART GALLERY AWARD
Double-Headed Dagan by Lewis Wandin-Bursill

 

 

RACV SCULPTURE AWARD
In the Not Too Distant Future – Failed State by Julie Collins & Derek John

 

 

WINERY CHOICE AWARD
Low Hanging Fruit, Aldo Bilotta
Selected by Yering Station Winery Staff