Awards and Accolades

95 Points - Anthony Keys, The Keys Report
"One of the world’s great blends, this works on many levels, with a basket of red/black fruits skipping along on the upper level, and a sound base of acid/tannin supporting underneath."

93 Points - Huon Hooke, Huonhooke.com
"Very deep, dense, bold purple red colour with a bold, slightly raw young bouquet of shrill spicy fruit and smoky, charry, burnt-wood overtones (not necessarily from oak). The sooty character of the region is part of it. It's full-bodied, intense and powerful with a very lively palate thanks to fresh acidity, and very good concentration. This is a bit young to drink but has great potential. I'd give it a year or two longer."

2014 Vintage: 96 Points - James Halliday, Australian Wine Companion
"65/27/8%, cold soak, 50% whole berries open-fermented, wild yeast, matured in used French oak for 9 months. Excellent depth to the colour; this is a mighty mouthful, somewhere between Guigal and Chateau Rayas in style, a veritable volcano of red and purple fruits that do, however, want to be enjoyed sooner rather than later. First class wine."

From the Winery

There are 100 hectares of vineyards at Yangarra in 35 individual blocks. These vineyards are spread amongst an extra 70 hectares of creeks, native vegetation and native corridors. Each block is defined by different aspects and subtle variations of the sand and Ironstone soils that overlie the ancient North Maslin Sands geological formation. Our GSM is a careful blending of Grenache, Shiraz and Mourvèdre in which the composition varies from year to year, conveying the traditional estate blends of the southern Rhône. The backbone of the wine comes from our old bush vine Grenache planted in 1946.

The grapes were harvested at night and received by way of a belt elevator (rather than a screw hopper which macerates the skins) and only de-stemmed. Whole berries were double sorted before going into open-top fermenters. We cold soaked the fermentation tanks for 5-6 days until the onset of wild fermentation, utilising the yeasts that naturally come in with the grapes from the vineyard. The open fermenters underwent a careful regime of plunging and drain and returns. The wine was then sent to older French barriques after about 12-14 days and kept on the yeast lees for approximately 12 months prior to blending. The wine received no fining, just filtration.

The 2015 vintage was one of the earliest and fastest we've ever seen here at Yangarra. It was a low-yeilding year, but this only helped to intensify the flavours which are shown in the wines, alongside perfect natural acidity and exceptional colour.