Yeringberg Pinot Noir 2004
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Robert
Parker
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
There are only 20 cases of the 2004 Pinot Noir. However, it is an example of the potential for this varietal in the cool-climate Yarra Valley. Aged in 35% new oak, it is light ruby-colored with an alluring perfume of pain grille, smoke, earth, raspberry, and rhubarb. Light- to medium-bodied and elegantly styled, this Pinot has a velvety texture, excellent depth, and a long, sweet finish. Drink it over the next 5-7 years.
Other Vintages
2014-
James
Suckling
Yeringberg produces serious wines, made to mature gracefully with time in the bottle and can always be expected to reward those who have the patience to wait. While always enjoyable when young, they also have the quality to develop into rich, elegant, mature wines. The reds especially have the structure and balance to ensure longevity and the white wines from supreme vintages live years longer than most Australian whites.
The winemaking process is as simple as possible, resulting in natural rather than over-worked wines. Marsanne, Roussanne, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and the Cabernet family of wines are each handled differently to enhance purity of fruit flavors and "terroir" influence, but all complete their maturation in French oak barrels in the original underground cellars. Marsanne and Roussanne go into older barrels to produce an unoaked style, while a percentage of new French oak barrels among the old are used each year for all the other young wines.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
As the most important area of wine production in Victoria today, the Yarra Valley is most popular for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, which account for over half of vineyard acreage. A gentle, rolling and rural region alongside the Margaret River, the Yarra Valley has a cool maritime climate with a lengthy growing season, perfect for these cool-climate varieties.
Two styles of Pinot Noir are possible here. The warmer Lower Yarra Valley with sandy, loam soils, produces plush and fruity Pinot Noir while the cooler, higher-elevation Upper Yarra Valley with soils of young red basalt, produces more angular and mineral-driven Pinot Noir.
Yarra Valley Chardonnay is among the best in Australia. To preserve the floral aromatics and fresh citrus flavors for which this area’s Chardonnay is so appreciated, time in barrel is restrained (though barrel fermentation is common). The best Yarra Valley Chardonnays display brilliant acidity, leesy characteristics, citrus, stone fruit and flavors of ginger and spice.
Shiraz and Cabernet find success in parts of this region as well.