Australia’s oldest family-owned winery
Yalumba is a wine company I’ve always had a soft spot for. It’s the oldest wine company in Australia that is still intact, and still owned by the Hill-Smiths. Yalumba has also been an innovator, both in terms of new territory and new varieties: Viognier, Roussanne, Vermentino and Tempranillo.
Yalumba’s Signature Blend red has a long and illustrious history, and is unique in celebrating the key employees and family members that made the company what it is today, every year. Christobel Hill-Smith was honoured this way back in the seventies, when Yalumba made an elegant Cabernet Shiraz in one of the wettest vintages on record. Initially it was labelled FDR1A but, after it collected many gongs and plaudits, Yalumba released the wine as Christobel’s blend.
Christobel’s Fall from Grace
Years later, Christobel’s name began to grace wines around the same price point as their Y series. Just why Yalumba would demean Christobel by putting her name on some of their cheapest wines is a mystery. The question came to mind again when Yalumba sent me some Christobel’s samples just now. When I asked their ever responsive PR guru, she answered:
‘… even our most inexpensive wines are exceptional quality, and Christobel Hill Smith was one of the most accessible, fun-loving and generous people you’d be likely to meet. Yalumba’s philosophy is about making exceptional wines at accessible price points … Your consumers would know better than anyone – you can access many fantastic wines for under $20. Price isn’t always an indication of quality, history, skill and heart.’
The Wines Fall Over
I admire good answers, and this was one of them. Sadly, the wines aren’t in the same class as Yalumba’s PR, or the lovely label. The samples were a Christobel’s Barossa Semillon Sauvignon Blanc 2013 and a Moscato NV. I added a Y series Vermentino 2014 and a Y Viognier 2014, since the Vermentino had scored 90 points in a GTW tasting (New World Italians). 90 point wines for $10 is our game, so I was keen, and the Y Viognier has long been the best of this series so I wanted to check the 2014.
Before we get down to business, I have to share with you some wine poetry I found on Cracka: Yalumba have a knack of turning out wines at a certain price that make your head spin, but the Y series is just beyond ridiculous. At around $16 [make that $10] you can indulge in a heady mix of honeysuckle, apricot and ginger spice with hints of tinned pineapple. It tastes of all these things on the palate but it makes you swoon with its fruit flavours, texture and fullness on the mouthfeel. It’s ripe and rounded and downright delicious and would be great with tempura prawns.
The Viognier 2014 is a heady mix alright, and a soggy mess that lacks structure like line and length. Tropical fruit salad, the liqid version. The Vermentino 2014 has the length and the acid but it’s just unripe and a bit green. 11.5%. Not very pleasant, and I don’t understand the 90 points from GTW at all. In my formal review, I’ll have to mark it AVOID. The Christobel’s SSB 2013 has a promising nose but the palate is just hard, and I can’t see it changing since it’s already 2 years old. AVOID again. The Moscato turns out the best of this lot, true to style and full of easy charm.
I have no idea what’s gone wrong with the rest, since the Y series has long provided reliable quaffing for $10 or less. Past Viogniers have been much better, and the Pinot Grigios tend to be OK as well. We love Yalumba’s Rieslings, Pewsey Vale most of all. Love their Coonawarra reds and Signature blends as well, but Yalumba’s winemakers need to love Christobel a lot more than this.
Kim