Yarra Yering Dry Red Wine No.2 2018 (Yarra Valley)

The famed Yarra Yering Dry Red Wine No.2 was one of just two wines originally created by Dr Bailey Carrodus after planting vines in 1969. The Dry Red No.2 is a Norther Rhone style blend, the 2018 vintage fruit was sourced from original 1969 plantings of Shiraz and Marsanne with additional Shiraz vines that were planted in the 1990’s, and the Mataro & Viognier drawn from vines planted from 1984 to 1995.

Fruit was hand-picked, transferred across a sorting table and destemmed directly to the Yarra Yering half-tonne open-fermenters. As much whole berry as possible is retained to encourage perfume. A little stalk return to some of the fermenters in order to contribute structure and aroma.A portion of fermenters had frozen Viognier skins added to the bottom, some with Marsanne skins. The wine was aged for 12 months in French oak barriques, 30% new before blending and bottling. Shiraz 95% Mataro 3% Viognier 1% Marsanne 1%

This fragrant style is approachable as a young wine but with some bottle maturation will evolve into a beautifully complex wine. This blend has a track record thus it will continue to evolve for a further 20+ years under suitable cellaring conditions should you want to cellar it for an extended period.