I was fortunate to spend the afternoon having lunch with the wonderful folks of Yangarra winery. They traveled several thousands of miles from McLauren Vale of South Australia to showcase their juice to us eager attendees. Presented in the line up was 2016 Roussanne, 2016 “PF’ Shiraz, 2014 Old Vines Grenache, and the 2014 High Sands Grenache. Given the line up I ordered blackened red snapper tacos with a corn, black bean, and arugula slaw of sort. This winery is iconic of what McLauren Vale wines are to be given the moderate elevation, very low rainfall, and lots of sunshine. Also being biodynamic, the winery has even higher standards than those self imposed as they must follow the rules and stipulations of biodynamic production. My thoughts on the vins:
- 2016 Roussanne-Notes of ripe orchard and stone fruit with ripe lemon and orange blossom finished with a touch of blanched almonds. The wine drinks full, round, and bright. Very pleasant and great with the charcuterie and cheese board.
- 2016 PF Shiraz. PF standing for preservative free this wine is just about as natural as it gets. No oak in production or aging so the fresh, purity of the fruit shone through. Bright, purple fruit, pink peppercorns, fresh herbs, mint and eucalyptus dominated the palate.
- 2016 Old Vines Grenache-(once mistook this wine for a Gigondas in a blind tasting), classic spicy red fruit, fresh floral notes, and baking spice from the oak treatment made this wine pleasant and approachable
- 2014 High Sands Grenache-made from old vines grenache this was the most complex out of the line up. The minerality is quite apparent and well integrated into the wine. The complex phenolics and the tear staining indicated a fair amount of skin maceration giving this grenache quite a mid palate; which is something grenache can lack (particularly from younger vines; just my opinion). The spicy red fruit and floral notes are backed by the intensity and weight on the palate making this wine highly complex and ageworthy.
