2020 Reserve Chardonnay

This is the result of barrel selection from the best batches on the estate and another nearby grower. It was barrel fermented in new and old puncheons. It's a wine that combines that essential merging in power and elegance. The slightly mealy grapefruit characters on the palate have richness with precise focus through to the finish. Showing great textured and richness with a fine minerality to finish. Love the slightly creamy vanilla bean custard apple richness. Cellar 12 years.

Pristine fruit with elegance and restraint. I could stop there but I won’t because I have so much more to say about this exciting Chardonnay. 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. There’s a hint of freshly baked baguette and larger format barrels (500L, 20% new oak) which add a subtle vanilla spice. On the palate it shows seamless balance; bright citrus intensity and white peaches set against subtle vanilla blossom. The texture is like a fluffy homemade marshmallow – silky and mouthfilling. This is a baby, and whilst absolutely delightful now, will continue to develop stunning complexity.

Not every vintage produces wines worthy of reserve status. The 2020 vintage in the Yarra Valley started hot and dry and then turned cool and wet in January, bringing with it a long, slow ripening of fruit. That last bit is important. Grapes don’t like to be rushed. In 2020 they impressed enough to make it to reserve status. With the 2020 reserve chardonnay, there’s a lot to be enjoyed now but there’s still plenty of juice in the tank for later. The always sunny Mendoza clone brings a range of lovely, ripe fruit characters to the bouquet: nectarine, yellow peach with mandarin skin, a touch of nougat and almond meal. 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. It’s a tad sharp and not quite as integrated as it might be, but it is still early days. The word here is restraint. The finish emphasises the wine’s quiet power and presence, not to mention length.

It has presence. This is a firm but well-balanced chardonnay with apple, white peach, pear and citrus flavours cut through with flint, crushed fennel and creamy cedar. It impresses immediately, flows evenly through the palate and then attacks again through the finish. I never had any doubt over this wine’s quality; it was really just a matter of how high. In the end I was on the cusp of 94.

Average vine age 20 years. Barrel fermented and matured in 500L barrels (20% new), no mlf. A bright green gold. Aromas of freshly picked white peach, green mangoes, some star anise and discreetly handled wood that is already well integrated. This has real drive on the palate, with flavours of nectarine and grapefruit pith. Finishes chalky and long. An excellent expression of Yarra chardonnay that will reward at least another 5 years, if not more, in the cellar.

Serious, bold, structured and impressive, Yering Station shows us that Reserve means power and grace, elegance and density with lashings of green apple, nougat, saline minerality and judicious cinnamon spice. A lavish and memorable wine that screams of quality.

The 2019 Chardonnay Reserve is a step up in intensity and fruitfulness from the estate Chardonnay of the same vintage. This is restrained and even, placid almost, with crushed nuts, nectarine, brine, orchard fruits and some crushed curry leaves through the finish.