Our final visit was to Yalumba, in the town of Angaston, Barossa Valley. After a wet, stormy start to the morning, the cooler weather was a welcome relief after a few hot days and I was eagerly anticipating visiting the site of Australia?s oldest family owned winery. After soaking up the history of Yalumba from the storyboards in the cellar door, we met with Kirsty Gosse, brand administrator ? our host at Yalumba.
Founded by Samuel Smith in 1849, Yalumba is now headed by fifth generation Robert Hill Smith, who plays a pivotal role in marketing the premium brand profile Yalumba carries. Aboriginal for ?all the land around?, Yalumba took its name after the first vines were planted on a 30-acre parcel of land. Today they source fruit from the Eden Valley, Barossa Valley and the Adelaide Hills and are innovative in introducing new grape varieties to Australian drinkers, as well as predicting future trends and styles.
Winemaker Teresa was enthusiastic about the brand?s approach to up-and-coming wines like vermentino ? a great summer white with flavours of melon and grapefruit, zesty citrus and a refreshing, crisp acidity. This is just one of the varieties propagated in Yalumba?s own nursery, which provides consistency and reliability of vines as well as providing access to rare varieties and clones both for their own production and to growers throughout regions in Australia.
I was particularly taken by Yalumba?s interest in viognier, which even before my visit was a favourite white of mine. They have the largest commercial plantings in the Southern Hemisphere and have recently developed a viognier glass specifically for capturing the amazing nose of this wonderfully aromatic variety. Yalumba The Virgilius 2009 (The Society stocks the 2008 at £25 per bottle) is barrel-fermented in French oak barriques (more for texture than flavour) and has an intense nose of stone fruit (peaches and apricots), sweet spice and ginger. On the palate, it?s luscious and complex, floral and fruity ? a beautiful accompaniment to Moroccan food, blue cheese or even eggs benedict (wine for breakfast?? Wine not!). Of course, the wines were fantastic, but I was staggered by the amount of care and attention in the vineyards.
We drove out to the Heggies and Pewsey Vale vineyards to meet with Daryl, vineyard manager. His knowledge of the area, the land, climate, microclimates and specific areas of his vineyards was amazing. Of particular interest was that Yalumba have been using natural practices for nearly 30 years; this long without insecticides and 10 years without herbicides. The Pewsey Vale vineyard at 60ha ? almost entirely riesling ? has been organic for four years and is in its first year of biodynamic production and awaiting classification. The larger Heggies vineyard at 65ha ? riesling, chardonnay and merlot ? is irrigated from the onsite dam, which, when full, would hold enough water to irrigate the vineyard for three years!
The Society currently stocks Heggies Chardonnay (2010 at £12.75 a bottle); great intensity on the nose of stone fruit and oak. Due to the 500m altitude of the vineyard, this wine retains great acidity and on the palate a great minerality, as well as a complex texture from the wild yeasts used in the ferment.
As the biggest of the wineries, and a very well known brand, Yalumba by no means felt like a large scale production and retained as much care and attention as some of the smaller sites I visited. With incredible foresight and innovation of an enthusiastic team, I have no doubt that Yalumba will continue to stay at the forefront of South Aussie wine production.
Jo Mansell
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