TN: Yalumba The Signature Cab/Shiraz 1975

markg · Post by **markg** » Thu Feb 05, 2004 1:59 pm

The wine was picked up at auction so I didn't know what to expect, especially since the level was at Medium High Shoulder, although there were no signs of leaking around the capsule. The Halliday book "Classic Wines" rated this wine very highly when it was tasted in 1994 and hinted it may have further to go, so I thought I would give it a try.

On opening, the cork crumbled into the bottle and we sieved it into a decanter. First impressons were good, the color was quite browned but very sharp and the nose still seemed quite fresh and earthy with a hint of truffles.Tasting of coffee, earth, truffles and tobacco it had quite a reasonable length. About 1 hour into the evening it started to develop more pronounced coffee and licorice flavours and after 4 hours the structure was still quite dominant before it began to fade.

All in all a wonderful little experiment that yielded good results and an interesting wine.

Red Bigot · Post by **Red Bigot** » Thu Feb 05, 2004 9:34 pm

Mark,

I think I've tasted every vintage since the 1964 and bought the Signature most vintages since then. Some of the 60's and 70's versions happily cellared for 10-15 years, but I've never had one at 25+ years of age. Don't know whether the 90's versions will be as long lived though, still very nice wines, but a little bigger and oakier in style than many of the older vintages. I don't leave them much more than 10 years these days, still have a 91 and a couple of 92's to see how they go in another year or 2.

Now here is a wine with a decent pedigree that is relatively unsung on the secondary market, it's just on doubled in street price (to $32-$34) since the 90 vintage, after holding around $25-$27 for about 4 years in the middle. I think it's been more consistent in the 90's than similarly priced 389 too, only 95 and perhaps 97 lesser releases, the 92 was one of the best and best value reds of the vintage that many struggled with :-)

simm · Post by **simm** » Fri Feb 06, 2004 8:20 am

Hi Brian and Mark,

I can't check up on it now but as I recall it seems to be one of those wines that has vintages that polarise opinion. One critic will prefer the 96 to the 97 for example and then the next critic feel it's the other way around, although everyone seems to agree on longevity.

regards,

markg · Post by **markg** » Fri Feb 06, 2004 11:15 am

Red Bigot wrote:Mark,

I think I've tasted every vintage since the 1964 and bought the Signature most vintages since then. Some of the 60's and 70's versions happily cellared for 10-15 years, but I've never had one at 25+ years of age. Don't know whether the 90's versions will be as long lived though, still very nice wines, but a little bigger and oakier in style than many of the older vintages. I don't leave them much more than 10 years these days, still have a 91 and a couple of 92's to see how they go in another year or 2.

Now here is a wine with a decent pedigree that is relatively unsung on the secondary market, it's just on doubled in street price (to $32-$34) since the 90 vintage, after holding around $25-$27 for about 4 years in the middle. I think it's been more consistent in the 90's than similarly priced 389 too, only 95 and perhaps 97 lesser releases, the 92 was one of the best and best value reds of the vintage that many struggled with

Brian,

I agree. Some of the Yalumba wines are fantastic bargains and I am looking forward to getting through some more this year.