Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Australian Wine Companion
Widely considered to be the benchmark wine for the variety in Australia, the '22 release of the Yalumba Virgilius once again impresses with its texture, purity and driving line across the palate. Subtle apricot, white flowers, ginger, spice, cut fennel, crushed quartz, liminal sherbet and the quietest whisper of mountain herbs. It's in fine form with a minerally drivetrain and, within that finely focused line, a sense of latent power being held back. Having recently tried a stunning 21-year-old Virgilius at the Yalumba 175th anniversary museum tasting, I may be a bit light on the drinking window here … let's just say 2035-plus.
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James Suckling
An exceptional viognier that features a delicate and floral bouquet reminiscent of orange blossoms and jasmine, alongside hints of quince and dried green mangoes. This medium-bodied wine offers luscious white fruit flavors, with a lovely texture that is velvety rather than creamy. Despite its apparent textural richness, it maintains a focused finish. Vegan.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2022 The Virgilius Viognier hails from the Eden Valley, and it delivers us a cavalcade of spring flowers, apricots, marmalade and cinnamon on buttered toast, elderflower, a hint of lychee and a flutter of yellow citrus notes. In the mouth, the wine is viscose and a little oily, and it blankets the tongue. Matured for 10 months in French oak, it is a rich, detailed wine of great length.
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Vinous
This refined 2022 Viognier The Virgilius from Eden Valley offers bright and vibrant aromas of apricot skin, honeysuckle and musk with beautifully integrated oak. Good impact thanks to tangy acidity and pithy textures before building a creamy and lengthy finish. An earlier drinking vintage for this label.
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.
Full-figured and charmingly floral, Viognier is one of the most important white grapes of the northern Rhône where it is used both to produce single varietal wines and as an important blending grape. Look for great New World examples from California, Oregon, Washington and cooler parts of Australia. Somm Secret—Viognier plays a surprisingly important role in the red wines of Côte Rôtie in the northern Rhône. About 5% Viognier is typically co-fermented with the Syrah in order to stabilize the color, and as an added benefit, add a subtle perfume.
Higher in elevation and topographically more dramatic than the Barossa Valley floor, Eden Valley abuts it to its south and east. While it is a bit of an extension of Barossa, Eden Valley is topographically different than the pastoral Barossa Valley, and is composed of rocky hills and eucalyptus groves.
Recognizing Eden Valley’s potential with Riesling in the 1960s and 70s, producers started to move their Riesling production from Barossa to these better sites where schist soils on hilltops would produce more steely, tart and age-worthy examples. A most famous site, planted by Colin Gramp, called Steingarten, today produces one of the most outstanding Australian Rieslings. Youthful Eden Valley Rieslings express floral, grapefruit and mineral, while with time in the bottle, they become increasingly toasty and complex.
Riesling isn’t the only grape the region can grow; undeniably at lower altitudes Shiraz does very well. Mount Edelstone is a notable vineyard as well as the Hill of Grace, which boasts healthy Shiraz vines well over 100 years old. This is the only Australian region where Merlot has a made a name for itself and Chardonnay can be spectacular, particularly from the High Eden subregion in the southern valley.