Yalumba has almost magically kept their traditions alive while infusing itself with cutting edge ideas and technology. They are the only winery in the southern hemisphere—and one of a handful in the world—to have its own, on-site cooperage—using virtually the same techniques since 1850, the barrels are made in a traditional, hand-crafted method. However, it allows winemakers to precision order and utilise barrels made to the highest specification for each variety and style of wine. Yalumba has also become a vociferous proponent of sustainable agriculture and a world leader working with Viognier. They’re a member of Australia’s First Families of Wine, a 12-member group of family-owned wineries that represent more than 1200 years of winemaking excellence—Yalumba Chair, Robert Hill-Smith, recently cited Canada as a country embracing the First Families raison d’être, vision and in purchasing their fine wines.
Control is another facet that allows this winery to excel. Control over barrel making is but the tip of the iceberg; and this is no more evident anywhere than their commercial vine nursery. Established in 1975 it has introduced and propagated some 50 or so grape varieties with only 10% of their 1.2 million going to Yalumba with the balance made available to Australian grape growers. Its impact on the country’s wine industry has been substantial. Their ground-breaking work with Viognier for the past two decades is apparent in all Viognier with none more striking than the über-premium, flagship wine, the ‘Virgilius’.
Another unique feature of Yalumba is their culture. They recognise VSOP personnel—a term used to describe employees with 21 years of service—Very Special Old People. They’re all commemorated—over 200 of them—on a plaque inside Yalumba’s Barossa headquarters. Each vintage, one of their Rare & Fine wines, ‘The Signature’, carries the signature and story of someone who has made a significant contribution to the culture and life of Yalumba. Their winemakers have not only been there decades, they pass their expertise along to new employees in the same way it was to them, allowing for consistency and excellence in their wines. As Chair, Robert Hill-Smith, commented, we must ‘do the little things brilliantly’. It allows this wine writer to opine, ‘it’s one of a small number of wineries in the world that allows wine-lovers to buy wine confidently with no more information than… ‘Yalumba is on the label’.
All that to say, the most striking aspect of Yalumba is revealed on a personal visit passing through the barrel room, their cooperage, the administrative offices or the bustling cellar door. And that striking aspect is the respect employees have for their work and for each other; it's clearly a tightly knit group who are valued and recognised for their contributions to the overall success of the winery, This very healthy, progressive work environment with best practices embedded in every corporate partner and employee goes a long way toward understanding the positive consumer acceptance and pure enjoyment Yalumba wine garners at every price point.
New in LCBO Portfolio
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Yalumba Family Winemakers ‘Y series’ Viognier 2017
South Australia $14.95 (470062) 13.5% alcohol
Aromas of mixed spice, floral notes, apricot and peel marmalade provide segue to a medium-weight, generously textured wash of delectable flavour coating the palate with apricot, white peach and hints of ginger root persisting through long, luxurious finish. The aftertaste is adorned with grilled pineapple and excellent citrus—lemon curd and Key lime tang. Pour this vegan-friendly beauty on its own or alongside vegan lentil curry or pan-seared freshwater pickerel. (Vic Harradine)
Classics Catalogue Release: August 20, 2020
• The following 2015 Yalumba Family Winemakers ‘The Signature’ pays homage to Yalumba’s Barossa Vineyard Manager, Darrell Kruger, who joined Yalumba in 1975 and is still there today. This is the 46th Vintage of this wine with a long-term employee chosen every year with the employee’s name and signature on the bottle. The wine matured 22 months in French barrique (225 L) and Hungarian hogsheads (300 L), 18% new, and the balance in older French, American and Hungarian barrique and hogsheads.
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Yalumba Family Winemakers ‘The Signature’ 2015
Barossa $75.00 (490101) 14.5% alcohol
A 51% cabernet sauvignon/49% shiraz blend, it was sourced primarily from cabernet sauvignon from Barossa Valley with one parcel from Eden Valley. The Barossa shiraz includes fruit from 90-year-old vines. Baking spice, red berry fruit with notions of mocha and fennel abound on the nose. It offers a palate-coating wash that’s balanced and complex showcasing plenty of tang, pizzazz and ripe fruit flavour—pie cherry and red currant meet up with black juicy cherry and dark bramble berry on the mid palate persisting through the lengthy, luxurious finish with black licorice and cocoa adornments. Good to go now after a two-hour decant, careful cellaring over the next decade or so will handsomely repay patience. (Vic Harradine)
Upstream in winecurrent
Vintages Release: April 18, 2020
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Yalumba Family Winemakers ‘Samuel’s Collection’ Shiraz 2017
Barossa $24.95 (12907) 14.5% alcohol
This is an easy-going, crowd- and food-friendly shiraz that’ll please novice and connoisseur red-wine lovers alike and it’s great value. Aromas of red and dark cherry/berry fruit dressed with savoury spice, pencil shavings and licorice abound. It flows over the palate with delightful flavours of red plum and black raspberry with peppery notes and dollops of racy tang and acidity providing balance throughout the lengthy, mouth-watering finish and aftertaste. Delightful on its own, sublime with burgers, pizza or grilled rack of lamb. (Vic Harradine)
Vintages Release: May 30, 2020
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Yalumba Family Winemakers ‘Bush Vine’ Grenache 2018
Barossa $24.95 (531228) 14.0% alcohol
The 2018 growing season was uneventful—no heat spikes, frost warnings, drought, floods or fires—allowing the fruit and excellent tang to be showcased. The backbone of this gem is the old, dry-farmed bush vines that shine through as red cherry/berry aromas and crunchy red fruit flavours. Floral notes, red currant and cherry aromas precede palate flavours of pie cherry, pomegranate and red plum adorned with good tang and wisps of mixed spice. It’s light on its feet with delicate texture and a soft tannin underpinning. Pour with bocconcini, basil and tomato pizza.(Vic Harradine)
• The following 2017 Yalumba Family Winemakers ‘Samuel’s Collection’ Shiraz – Cabernet Sauvignon spent eight months maturing in French, American and Hungarian hogsheads, 16% new with the balance in one- to five-year-old seasoned oak barrels.
Vintages Release: July 25, 2020
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Yalumba Family Winemakers ‘Samuel’s Collection’ Shiraz – Cabernet Sauvignon 2017
Barossa $24.95 (12999) 14.5% alcohol
The price-quality balance tips well in your favour in this 60% shiraz/40% cabernet sauvignon blend that’s dark, almost opaque in the glass, with lifted aromas of dark plum, blueberry and mixed spice. It captures the palate with medium-plus weight, creamy-smooth mouthfeel and a mouthful of flavour with red cherry and ripe bramble berry to the fore decorated with savoury notes, firm underpinning and excellent tang and acidity. It finishes with palate replays, mouth-watering and lengthy. (Vic Harradine)
Vintages Release: TBD
• The following 2018 Yalumba Family Winemakers ‘Samuel’s Collection – Eden Valley’ Viognier was 60% pressed into small and large, old French oak barrel with the balance in stainless steel tank then left 10 months on its fine lees and stirred regularly.
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Yalumba Family Winemakers ‘Samuel’s Collection – Eden Valley’ Viognier 2018
Eden Valley $24.95 13.5% alcohol
A perfumed nose of honeysuckle and pit fruit—yellow plum, nectarine and apple—ushers in a glorious gusher of palate flavours all creamy smooth with excellent mouthfeel—sugared and grilled pink grapefruit juxtaposed to ripe, sweet grilled pineapple, ripe apricot and great balancing tang from lemon curd. It finishes lengthy and balanced on a pin with ripe palate flavours and racy citrus tang. Pour with roast chicken or breaded veal cutlets. (Vic Harradine)
Vintages Release: TBD
• Fruit for the following 2017 Yalumba Family Winemakers ‘Virgilius’ Viognier was hand harvested and whole-bunch pressed to small and large seasoned French oak barrels, none new, before being ambient-yeast fermented in the old barrels then maturing ten months on its lees (spent yeast cells) with regular stirring to enhance many aspects in the wine; e.g. increase mouthfeel, heighten palate weight, increase complexity and flavour generosity.
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Yalumba Family Winemakers ‘Virgilius’ Viognier 2017
Eden Valley $59.95 13.5% alcohol
This is Yalumba’s flagship white wine, kudos to winemaker, Louisa Rose, for waving her magic wand over this stunning Virgilius viognier. It’s naturally dressed in Australia’s colours—gold and green-hued in the glass. Lifted aromas of Indian cooking spice, quince jelly and wisps of honeysuckle abound. The palate’s treated to a medium-plus bodied, generously textured flow of balanced and beautiful ambrosia—lemon curd, quince jelly, white peach and sharp ginger root—persisting through the monumentally long, delectable finish. Food friendly, pour with beef tagine, curried lamb or your favourite spicy lentil recipe. (Vic Harradine)
Vintages Release: TBD
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Yalumba Family Winemakers ‘Sanctum’ Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2017
South Australia $18.95 (460667) 13.0% alcohol
Earthy, smoky aromas give way to black berry and blueberry and baking spice on the nose of this beauty. A profusion of cranberry and red currant mingles with black pepper-infused, juicy black currant adorned with juicy tang and underpinned by soft ripe tannin. This is medium-full bodied with silky smooth mouthfeel, deft balance, complexity and racy pizzazz. It finishes long and luxurious. It's drinking well now and will on to 2026. Pour with thick, grilled medium-rare, premium-cut beefsteak. (Vic Harradine)
Vintages Release: TBD
• Thirty-six percent of the following 2014 Yalumba Family Winemakers ‘The Menzies’ Cabernet Sauvignon matured 20 months in new French 300L hogsheads with the balance in one year and older small and large American, French and Hungarian barrels.
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Yalumba Family Winemakers ‘The Menzies’ Cabernet Sauvignon 2014
Coonawarra $70.00 14.0% alcohol
The fruit for this wine was sourced from a vineyard of mostly 29-year-old vines found in the heart of Coonawarra’s iconic terra rossa soils and it shows up in the dazzling aromas and delectable flavours. Aromas of peppery spice, floral notes and hints of mint precede a balanced and beautiful shower of palate-flavours—dark bramble berry interwoven with crunchy pomegranate and dark bittersweet chocolate. This showcases persistent purity of fruit, deft balance, a firm structure and a long, dry, lip-smacking finish and aftertaste. Drink now after a three-hour decant and for the next decade. (Vic Harradine)
Vintages Release: TBD
• The following 2014 Yalumba Family Winemakers ‘The Octavius – Old Vine’ Shiraz was sourced from vines averaging 71 years with 63% sourced from Barossa Valley, 37% from Eden Valley. Finished wine was matured in 38% new French and American octaves (100 L barrels coopered by Yalumba at their winery cooperage) and 19% one-year-old French barriques (250 L), hogsheads (300 L) and octaves (100 L). Vines from which fruit was sourced for this wine average 100 years old with 61% sourced from Eden Valley and the balance from Barossa Valley.
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Yalumba Family Winemakers ‘The Octavius – Old Vine’ Shiraz 2015
Barossa $155.00 14.5% alcohol
Aromas of grilled savory herbs, red fruit—plum and currant—interlace with mocha, vanillin and baking spice on the nose. A surge of ripe boysenberry and passionfruit mingle with exotic spice and aniseed on entry meeting up with good weight and generous texture mid-palate and persisting through the extended, balanced and beautiful finish and aftertaste. This is firmly structured and delectable from cork pop to last drop after a four-hour aeration/decant and poured with seasoned and grilled medium-rare, beef tenderloin steak. This can be easily cellared until 2035. (Vic Harradine)
Classics Catalogue: TBD
• Cabernet Sauvignon fruit was sourced for the following 2014 Yalumba Family Winemakers ‘The Caley’ Cabernet Sauvignon – Shiraz from a 2.7 Ha plot of an estate Coonawarra vineyard planted in 1972 now supplying 82% of total fruit for this wine while the 18% Shiraz was sourced from two, old-vine Barossa vineyards with one planted in Eden Valley in 1972 by the late Helen Hill-Smith and the other from a vineyard in the Krondorf area planted 1974.
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Yalumba Family Winemakers ‘The Caley’ Cabernet Sauvignon - Shiraz 2014
Coonawarra & Barossa $500.00 (537316) 14.0% alcohol
Aromas of sprigs of savory herbs, medicinal notes, red and dark berry fruit leap from the glass. It coats the palate with a powerfully structured wash of black currant, dark plum. mint and a ripe, linear streak of tannin framed by tangy acidity. This showcases persistent purity of fruit, good balance, elegance and ageability; good to go now to 2045. It will take years for this to fully reveal itself; patience should be highly rewarded. (Vic Harradine)