YERING STATION: AN ERA OF EXCELLENCE

Yering Station’s first vines were planted in 1838, and it was those very same vines that established the Yarra Valley wine region in Victoria. On the 185th anniversary year of those initial plantings, the pioneer winery will release its limited, cool-cli

AVAILABLE FROM August 1, the Reserve collection comprises a quartet of chardonnay, pinot noir, shiraz viognier, and cabernet sauvignon. Yering Station’s Reserve wines are only produced in the finest years and from the best parcels of fruit, and each is an expression of time, place and skill.

AT THE HELM of the team is chief winemaker Brendan 'Hawk' Hawker, who marks his first end-to-end flagship release with the 2021 wines. "We are all incredibly proud of all four of these Reserve wines. It’s a rare occurrence that the vintage conditions allow for all four varietals to reach the level of quality that a Reserve release demands.”

Brendan, who was named chief winemaker of Yering Station in late 2020 and first joined the winery as a cellar hand in 2008, says he loves the seasonal nature of being a winemaker. "It’s a beautiful thing working in agriculture. The workflow is dictated by the seasons and the weather and conditions experienced in the vineyards are reflected in the living product of the wines themselves." While Brendan's passion and vision flows through the 2021 wines, he says he doesn't take the legacy of quality at Yering Station for granted – especially when it comes to the Reserves. "I intend to always respect and maintain that legacy."

A significant evolution, under the guidance of Hawk, has been driven by meticulous work in the vineyard.

The team have made improvements to soil health, gradually replanted on rootstocks, are picking earlier, and are employing restraint in the use of new oak. "We are finding a more natural balance in the wines with more elegance and energy, which is only taking their quality higher."

ALONGSIDE the Reserve wines is the release of Yering Station’s pinnacle pinot noir: the 2021 Scarlett. The Scarlett Pinot Noir is driven by a very special patch of dirt from Block Y07 on the estate site. The highly coveted wine is produced in very limited quantities and was named in honour of Yering Station viticulturist, the late Nathan Scarlett. Nathan’s innovation and precision viticulture led to the unearthing of the Y07 parcels. The vines on the three-acre patch of pinot noir are less stressed and more vigorous, resulting in fruit that has an effortless balance and a powerful purity. The 2021 is the fourth release of the Scarlett – preceding vintages include the 2013, 2015, and 2017.

FOR BRENDAN, there's a lot to love about making wine at Yering Station and in the Yarra Valley. "We have fantastic and varied vineyard resources, and we work with some of the region's best growers. We are empowered by the Rathbone family to explore style and technique – all in pursuit of making better and better wine each year." ⬤

The World of Fine Wine is – by some distance – the finest international wine magazine published in English: there isn’t a single box without a resounding tick. Its first edition (in 2004) was brave – magazines are yesterday’s fish and chips platter, etc. – and the instinctive feeling was that its selfset standards couldn’t be maintained. The 79th issue has just landed on my desk, all 218 pages produced on ultra-luxurious paper stock in high fidelity colour, even the advertisements reaching towards works of art.

It is published quarterly and is the only magazine that I cherish and retain. As it is, I find there are always pieces I keep for later consumption, and when I go back to an issue for a single subject, it’s certain that there are articles that seem as fresh and interesting even though they are (say) two years old. The panel of contributors corralled by the ever-patient editor, Neil Beckett, come from all vinous walks of life. I always go to the last page to read French writer Michel Bettane’s one-page opinion on whatever subject he chooses.

WINE IN DANGER is the headline of his [most recent] contribution, fleshed out by these words,

“In those days, all wine, no matter how extraordinary, was treated as a consumer product. French people tasted wines for the emotional value of experience. Those days are gone. What we have now is a financial product.” He continues: “More worrying... [is] the idea of wine collecting driven by an obsession with rarity, with collecting ever more inaccessible wines as a symbol of luxury, the richer, the narrower their area of interest and the more rarified their tastes. What starts out as a pleasure ultimately becomes a lust for exclusivity.”

Burgundy is the powder keg. The wines of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti are so rare they are beyond the reach of

99 per cent of those who would dearly love to buy them, the other 1 per cent forming a syndicate to buy and drink them, even then shared by 10 or more wine collectors. Rousseau is next in line, and so it will go down the path.

IN THE FINAL analysis, what you have here is a product with a fixed supply (or not even that, if disease, frost or other calamity slashes the vintage) and an ever-increasing demand. India’s population has recently eclipsed that of China, and while some states seek to deny the sale of alcohol, there are millions of Indians more than comfortable with its burgeoning wine and spirits industry. It is a market that existed in the 19th century but faded after 1947 when India gained independence from England.

The 21st century has ushered in a dynamic global environment fed by Google and Wikipedia, education, travel and trade made easy. Plus, India is increasingly making wine for domestic consumption thanks to temperate regions tailor-made for wine growing.

Regardless, don’t take this half-kilo-plus magazine onboard your next plane trip. Subscription prices are: one year (4 issues) US$202; two years (8 issues) US$327. ⬤