Winemaker Notes
Deep, dense red in color. Distinct Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon aromas: fresh, cool and refined green olive, leafiness, iodine and intriguing, fine and complex aromatics. Richness and precision, revealing refinement of Shiraz with red currant and spice. Perfectly balanced acid and tannin line sweeping through to the long finish.
Blend: 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Shiraz
Vegan-Friendly
Professional Ratings
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Australian Wine Companion
The Caley from Yalumba has quickly established itself as one of the benchmark wines in the 'Great Australian Blend' category. An elegant representation of how well Coonawarra cabernet sauvignon and Barossa shiraz (at 77/23% split) can work together in the right hands. There is a black-fruited intensity to its form, fine spice and cedar tones suffusing slowly through the wine with tobacco, dried herbs, pressed flowers, pencil shavings, cinnamon and roast beef. Texturally, it's a stunning wine: super pure black fruits, a silken flow, fine, powdery tannin, lacy acidity and a graceful, extended retreat from the mouth with lingering black fruit flavours, cedar and spice.
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James Suckling
This blend has concentrated aromas and flavors of mint chocolate, sage, cedar, olives, black cherries and blackcurrants. It’s full-bodied, muscular and broad-shouldered, but exhibits sensitivity and excellent savory restraint. Firm finish. Try from 2025.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 The Caley Cabernet & Shiraz comprises 77% Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon, the balance 23% Barossa Shiraz (included in this a small component of Eden Valley). The Coonawarra component is from a 2.7-hectare plot planted in 1992 on a patch of dirt with higher clay content than the traditional terra rossa soils. This matured for 19 months in 24% new French barriques, the balance for one year and in older barriques. Aromatically, the wine leads with fruit instead of oak, with dark chocolate, dark berries and exotic spice coloring the bouquet. In the mouth, the wine is texturally svelte: while the tannins are profuse, they are finely milled and quite elegant. It is clear the season was warm, in that this is quite robust, but it is also powerful and sleek too. So, there exists a contrast of experience here. Very good.
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Wine Spectator
This red offers a deep, polished mix of strawberry, raspberry and chocolate liqueur notes, with accents of dark chocolate–covered espresso bean, sage, rosemary, cedar and palo santo. The tannins are fine-grained and velvety, and this ends with a long, lush and expressive finish. Cabernet and Shiraz. Drink now through 2038.
Established in 1849, Yalumba is Australia’s most historic family-owned wine company showcasing the best of the Barossa and South Australian wine regions. Fiercely independent and extremely progressive through the generational ownership by the Hill-Smith family, their longevity and success are a result of patience, collaboration, and forward-thinking. Yalumba is a leader in the industry with the foresight to embrace the natural terroir to craft wines with individual character and a sense of purpose, as well as a spirit to reinvest in the land upon which it operates. Yalumba is committed to sharing stories of provenance gathered over 175 years of history of family winemaking.
Arguably the single most famous wine region in Australia, the Barossa includes both Barossa Valley and Eden Valley, making it one of the only areas in Australia to have neighboring warm and cool climate growing conditions. Yalumba is privileged to have access to some of the oldest vineyards in the world in Barossa Valley, including 1889 bush vine Grenache and 1908 Shiraz. They are committed to growing premium quality fruit reflecting distinctive varietal characters of the region.
Yalumba also operates the Southern Hemisphere's only fully operational Cooperage, crafting bespoke oak barrels that elevate the wines aged within them. While the beginnings of the Yalumba Cooperage remain a mystery lost in time, coopering has been a proud tradition at the winery for more than a century. Their coopers have been performing and perfecting their craft since around 1890. In the Nursery, Yalumba is a global leader in wine innovation, growing, evaluating, and supplying quality grape vines to the Australian wine industry. Yalumba has developed strong relationships with leading grapevine programs from around the world and have exclusive access to certain new varietals in Australia. This gives the Yalumba viticulturists and winemakers the unique opportunity to evaluate and develop new or emerging varieties before they are sold.
Yalumba continually strives to reduce their impact on the environment, stay involved in the community, and make great wine with minimal intervention in the vineyard and in the winery. They are committed to sustainable practices, with the belief that the healthier and more biodiverse the vineyards are, the better the wines will be. Yalumba has been developing its own sustainable viticulture program since the mid-1990s, promoting the economic production of quality grapes. For every acre of vineyard Yalumba own, they have at least one acre of native vegetation. All Yalumba wines are crafted with wild yeast, are 100% vegan, and are made with the least intervention possible but with as much knowledge, confidence, and expertise as possible.
Marked by an unmistakable deep purple hue and savory aromatics, Syrah makes an intense, powerful and often age-worthy red. Native to the Northern Rhône, Syrah achieves its maximum potential in the steep village of Hermitage and plays an important component in the Red Rhône Blends of the south, adding color and structure to Grenache and Mourvèdre. Syrah is the most widely planted grape of Australia and is important in California and Washington. Sommelier Secret—Such a synergy these three create together, the Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre trio often takes on the shorthand term, “GSM.”
Historically and presently the most important wine-producing region of Australia, the Barossa Valley is set in the Barossa zone of South Australia, where more than half of the country’s wine is made. Because the climate is very hot and dry, vineyard managers work diligently to ensure grapes reach the perfect levels of phenolic ripeness.
The intense heat is ideal for plush, bold reds, particularly Shiraz on its own or Rhône Blends. Often Shiraz and Cabernet partner up for plump and powerful reds.
While much less prevalent, light-skinned varieties such as Riesling, Viognier or Semillon produce vibrant Barossa Valley whites.
Most of Australia’s largest wine producers are based here and Shiraz plantings date back as far as the 1850s or before. Many of them are dry farmed and bush trained, still offering less than one ton per acre of inky, intense, purple juice.