Yarra Yering Dry Red No. 1

Spending Australia Day with my family saw the cork pulled from a 2005 Yarra Yering Dry Red No. 1, it was, as expected, a magnificent wine. Unlike most contemporary Australian wines, a cork is still used at Yarra Yering as opposed to a screw cap used by the majority of producers. Then again, since 2005, they may have moved over to screw caps as well - change is constant, I suppose.

Viewing the label of this wine, it looks as if it was produced by a family member on their home computer, the moment the cork is released, you soon realise no costs have been spared in the production of this marvelous wine.The No. 1 is a Bordeaux style claret consisting of cabernet sauvignon blended with merlot, malbec and petit verdot matured in new French oak.

The aroma exhibits herbaceous notes with a slight hint of tobacco, the palate exhibits complex cherry, plum and blackcurrent flavours with vanilla oak overtones, the aftertaste is smooth with fine tannins. With just on 10 years of bottle maturation, the 2005 is drinking well now with further cellaring potential.

James Halliday, from the Wine Companion awarded the 2005 vintage 95 points, the distinct lack of gold, silver and bronze awards plastered over the bottle shows a no nonsense style allowing the reputation of the No.1 blend to talk instead of label marketing. I have a couple of more bottles stashed away, looking forward to more sunny summer days.