Yarra Yering

In Sep ’08, founder Bailey Carrodus died and in Apr ’09 Yarra Yering was on the market. It was Bailey Carrodus’s clear wish and expectation that any purchaser would continue to manage the vineyard and winery, and hence the wine style, in much the same way as he had done for the previous 40 years. Its acquisition by a small group of investment bankers fulfilled that wish. The low-yielding, unirrigated vineyards have always produced wines of extraordinary depth and intensity. Dry Red No. 1 is a cabernet blend; Dry Red No. 2 is a shiraz blend; Dry Red No. 3 is a blend of touriga nacional, tinta cão, tinta roriz, tinta amarela, alvarelhão and sousão. The Underhill is from a single block of shiraz planted in '73 (from an adjacent vineyard purchased by Yarra Yering in ’87). Sarah Crowe was appointed winemaker after the ’13 vintage. She has made red wines of the highest imaginable quality right from the start, transitioning the range to screw caps. For good measure, she also introduced the Light Dry Red Pinot Shiraz in ’14, and was named Winemaker of the Year 2017. -JAMES HALLIDAY