Yarra Yarra - The Yarra Yarra

Many years ago, there was a debate raging about the suitability of the Yarra Valley for either Cabernet or Pinot Noir, with James Halliday as Coldstream Hills proprietor propagating Pinot Noir and many others pointing to Mount Mary and Yarra Yering as examples of successful Cabernet.

Somehow this debate has died down, but I was reminded of it, while I had a 2004 Yarra Yarra, The Yarra Yarra (how many 'Yarras' can you have in a name?) last night.

This wine has aged very quickly. The fruit flavours are almost all gone, and even secondary characteristics are hard to detect in this wine which is now dominated by oak and some alcohol (it is not a high alcohol wine). I looked up my previous notes on this wine, and they were similar. It is not bottle variation. I remember drinking it when young, and then it was very appealing, balanced and elegant: astonishing.

Ian MacLean has gone through a lot after losing the winery and half the vineyards in the Victorian bushfires. Everything is pretty much restored now, and I wish him well, but I still have to judge the wine by what is in the glass.

Score: 80/---