Yalumba

The Heritage

With five generations and 160 years of history, Yalumba is Australia’s oldest family-owned winery. In 1849 Samuel Smith departed his hometown of Wareham, Dorset with his wife Mary and four children to Port Adelaide, and after a short time there, settled north in a small town called Angaston.

Samuel worked as a gardener for the Angas family and planted his own vineyard with son Sidney. In 1852 Samuel went for the goldfields of NSW and Victoria, returning four months later with £300 of gold, and purchased 80 acres of land, two horses and a harness, and a year later Yalumba’s first wine was released.

By 1858 Samuel was dominating the local wine shows. In 1908 brothers Walter and Percy Smith built the Yalumba Clocktower, which took two years to construct. In 1929 Yalumba’s Port was enjoyed by Sir Douglas Mawson’s Antarctic Research Expedition.

By 1938 Wyndham Hill-Smith, the fourth generation, was called back to manage his family business after both his father and elder brother died in the year. In 1966 The Signature, a Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz blend, was released, in recognition of all the people contributing to the success of Yalumba.

By 1977, in view of the changing tastes of Australian drinkers, Yalumba renovated its old brandy bond store into a Wine Room and also held its first Museum Library Tasting. In 1985 Robert Hill-Smith took over the helm as Managing Director at the age of 34, instigating a complete buy-out of all other family shareholders, and insisted on growing varietals matched to terroir, plus building a team of talented young individuals.

By 1998, after two decades of experimentation with Viognier, Yalumba released its first vintage of The Virgilius Viognier, by the young winemaker Louisa Rose, who is now the most influential maker of Viognier in the world.

In 2009 a group of 12 family owned wineries collaborated to create Australia’s First Families of Wine, a multi-generational group of exceptional Australian winemakers, and to showcase to the world the quality of Australian wines.

By 2015, Nick Waterman becomes the only second non-family member to take on the role of Managing Director after 12 years overseeing the company’s distribution in ANZ.

The Region

Yalumba has vineyards in many regions, including Barossa, Barossa Valley, Eden Valley, Coonawarra, Wrattonbully and South Australia, producing different wines in a range of styles. Barossa is arguably the most famous wine region in Australia, including both Barossa Valley and Eden Valley, making it one of the only areas to have neighboring warm and cool climate.

Yalumba also has access to some of the oldest vineyards in the world. In the prized Coonawarra region lies Yalumba’s Menzies Vineyard, producing premium quality Cabernet Sauvignon.

Sustainability

Yalumba has been developing its sustainable viticulture program since mid-1990s, starting in the vineyard and extending to every aspect of winemaking, production, packaging and distribution. All the wines are announced vegetarian and vegan friendly as of 2011, and Yalumba is also the first wine company in the world to receive the Climate Protection Award from the US Environmental Protection Agency in 2007.

The estate has set aside hundreds of hectares of land for conservation management, and for every hectare of vineyard they own, there is at least a hectare of natural vegetation, and thousands of trees are planted. Biodiversity is also encouraged through the reduction of chemicals used, integrated pest management system and encouragement of biodiversity of vegetation in vineyards.

Winemaker

Louisa Rose is the chief winemaker since 2006, and during her 20-year career in Yalumba has become one of the world’s most respected winemakers, particularly in forging an identity for Australian Viognier. Kevin Glastonbury joined Yalumba in 1999, now being Senior Red Winemaker, with deep knowledge of Barossa through hands-on approach, as well as sourcing and purchasing of oak for the barrels.

Peter Gambetta joined in 2002 and is responsible for making the Rare & Fine collection from Coonawarra, focusing on every details in the winemaking process. Sam Wigan plays an integral part in the emerging varieties such as Vermentino, Tempranillo, Verdejo and Garganega. Natalie Cleghorn joined in 1999, with experience in small and large volume production and a love for the noble varieties, in particular Cabernet Sauvignon and Grenache.

Heather Fraser started working in Yalumba’s laboratory in 1999, and then quickly moved into the Trainee Winemaker programme, and recently taken the responsibility for the organic collection. Jane Ferrari is the wine communicator at large, helping to bring to life the Yalumba story and the philosophies on viticulture, winemaking and the environment.

Cooperage

Yalumba crafted their own barrels and is the only winery in the southern hemisphere having its own cooperage. Kevin Glastonbury selects the oak himself to ensure an abundance of flavor, importing staves from the best forests in the world, then fashion into oak barrels that are fired to toast the wood to a long, medium, slow toast. Shaun Gibson is the master cooper.

Nursery

The Nursery at Yalumba is a specialist varietal, clonal and rootstock provider to Australian wine growers, researching vine health, sustainability and future of wine community. One of the proud and significant creation is the Viognier.

I have recently tasted the 2006 Octavius and below is my tasting note:

Appearance

Bright and clear, it has deep ruby color, with fading rims and legs.

Nose

Clean, with medium (+) intensity of black fruit of black fruit such as blackberry and blackcurrant, pungent spice of black pepper, kernel notes of chocolate, mineral notes of earthy, herbal notes of eucalyptus, oak notes of vanilla, animal notes of game. The wine is developing.

Palate

Dry, with medium acidity, medium (+) tannin of ripe and velvety texture, the wine has medium alcohol and full body, demonstrating medium (+) intensity flavors of black fruit of blackcurrant and blackberry, oak notes of vanilla, pungent spice of black pepper. The wine has a medium finish.

Conclusion

Very good quality Australian Shiraz with a surprisingly elegant style, on the nose it has good intensity and complexity, while on the palate it did not show any of the overpowering alcohol or flavors that are so typical in many of the region’s wines. The good concentration and elegance makes the wine highly enjoyable, and if only the length could be longer this wine would be a candidate to go into the excellent category. Ready to drink now, it can benefit from further ageing of another 4-6 years.