Yalumba Shiraz - Viognier Hand Picked 2022

Yalumba is Australia's oldest family-owned winery, founded in 1849 by Samuel Smith and still run today by fifth-generation descendants Robert and Sam Hill-Smith. This Hand Picked bottling sits in the middle of the estate's carefully tiered portfolio, sourced predominantly from the Eden Valley — a cooler, higher-elevation extension of the Barossa Ranges (400–600 metres) where Samuel Smith planted his very first vines near Angaston. The blend borrows directly from Côte-Rôtie's classic Northern Rhône tradition of co-fermenting Syrah with a small proportion of Viognier: Yalumba separates the juice from its own Short's Vineyard Viognier (planted in 1998 with 1968 Montpellier clone material) and ferments just the skins alongside select parcels of hand-picked Shiraz, boosting aromatic complexity and texture without diluting the wine's structure. True to the estate's long-standing philosophy, fermentation relies on wild yeast — Yalumba has championed the technique for over two decades — and the wine is 100% vegan, aged around fourteen months in a mix of new and seasoned French oak.

The result is Shiraz with genuine perfume and lift: violet, red apple skin, and cedar meet cranberry, raspberry, jasmine, and black pepper, with a gentle spiciness and roasted-meat savouriness rounding things out. The palate is medium-bodied, silky, and fine-grained, more elegant and lithe than a typical Barossa floor Shiraz, carried by bright, mouth-watering acidity that keeps the whole wine feeling fresh rather than heavy.