Subscriber Pete L. dropped into Yalumba and got a big surprise
‘Hey Kim,
Yalumba. Yes, that ancient Barossan dinosaur. Or so I thought. We were visiting a friend up Eden Valley way and happened to be rolling past Yalumba with time to kill. Never been there but your tip on the Y Series wines piqued my interest. Looked big and corporate – probably owned by TWE or some other faceless corporate empire run by soulless bean counters. I braced myself for well rehearsed spiels and big red wines that wanted to hurt me. I’ve never been so happy to be wrong! My good experience started with a carpark shaded by huge European deciduous trees. Very welcome in a place that can be oppressively hot in summer. Wandered up to the tasting room and was stunned by the beautifully manicured grounds – their gardeners are next level OCD. Quite obviously not farmed out to a generic grounds maintenance company. This is more like an old retired guy who does it for the love of it. Stunning. They provide you with a map of the place which identifies every tree. There’s that OCD again – that I appreciate so much.
Heading inside we were met by a woman who was quite passionate about her job. Surrounded by that classic Barossa timberwork that has a smell to it that’s hard to describe – maybe I’ll call it “The Barossa Winery Smell”. All of the chunky timber, all of the barrels, bottles, awards, history placards, etc, etc. But the real revelation was the wine. Not tired old reds trying to hurt me at all – these guys have moved with the times and we enjoyed some beautiful fresh examples. They have numerous paid-for tastings but we’re tight-arses so Kath went for the Whites Flight at $10 and I did the Samuel’s Collection cos the wines are priced nearer to what I’m likely to actually buy. Of course it was the mid-range Viognier that I wanted to try after consuming so much of the Y-series (which isn’t mentioned at the winery – I imagine that’s some sort of “made for Dan’s” kinda deal that pays the bills but they’d rather not admit to). Once the woman realised that we were into their Viognier she fired up and quickly a couple of tastings of their Virgilius top-end Viognier appeared on our table. It did not disappoint. Tasting their mid-range offering next to the Virgilius resulted in not wanting to drink the mid-range wine! So complex and opulent. Had to buy one to take home.
https://www.yalumba.com/wine-tasting
I also enjoyed their mid-range Chardy (nice light chardy but still with a bit of character), and the Grenache was also excellent – once again a lighter modern style that ticks all the boxes. She felt the need to join us up to their obligation free wine club that gives 10% discount with no strings attached. She also gave us a no-spam guarantee and actually said that the management prefer a “soft sell” approach. So refreshing! We left with a Virgilus ($45), a Grenache ($25), a Shiraz-Cab ($25) and a Chardy ($25). I’ve since found the Grenache (2021 – yesss!) at Licker-Land on special for $20, so I grabbed a handful of those. These are very decent wines at these prices even if they don’t quite make the “Under $20” mark.
I did listen to her spiel though, and was super pleased to find that Yalumba is actually still “family owned”. I nearly fell off my chair. After starting in 1853 it’s still in the same family. If only this happened more often. We’ll definitely be going back to taste their top end stuff. And do another wander around the grounds.
PL