The Auswine Forum

GraemeG wrote:I like that Jeremy Oliver seems to be candid. After the last few vintages panning Yarra Yering, for instance, I see they've dropped out of his latest guide. I imagine they've cut him from their samples list...
cheers,
GG

Graeme, I hope you don't mind that I started this thread with a quote from you, but I find it interesting that Oliver marks down YY to this extent. YY No.1 1982 was my first major cellar buy and I never regretted it.
During the recent Langtons Sydney tasting I thought the YY Dry Red No.1 2008 one of my favs of the night, and my cellar is littered with various other vintages. Admittedly I don't have much experience with the other YY offerings, but is Oliver's assessment justified? Has YY slipped since the passing of the good doctor? I for one, don't think so, and will be buying the soon to be released 2012 No.1.

What do others think?

I normally really like Yarra Yering..their 2011 release was a total embarrassment though...They kept their ENTIRE line including Carrodus rather than declassifying it...

What they ended up with was some really sub par wines and a 250 dollar lineup (carrodus) of 50 dollar wines....It could be some financial pressures or whatever..but it was truly disappointing to see...

Hopefully 2012 will show something a lot better..I'm sure the fruit they're starting with is a lot better...

They had a road trip promoting all the 2011s- I guess they couldnt sell them. A couple of reds (not 2011) were ok but the prices are ludicrous.

Ive never really bought them as the prices are quite high and I rarely get the chance to taste them to know if I want them

I did pre-order a magnum of the Dry Red #1 2012 on the basis of the vintage and a desire to add a few magnums to the cellar...

Yes fantastic reds and having a one on one tasting with the largely reclusive Bailey Carradous some years ago, after having driven 750 Km from Adelaide earlier that day was an absolute treat.

I am sure that the 2012s will be good....but wholeheartedly agree with others the prices are insane.
I brought a fair bit in the 90s and early 2000s when prices were a little more reasonable.

Cheers Craig.

You compare what Mount Mary did with their reds from 2007 and 2009, and you get where Oliver is coming from. Whereas YY just cheerfully released to the market as normal. Doubt that Carrodus would have done that. You can feel a bit sorry for the owners; a right bummer to buy the place and then be hit with such terrible conditions, but that's not really an excuse.
I haven't tasted the 2011s, his spray at those I can't comment on. The Carrodus wines (pre-08) were pretty special.
GG

It is always a shame when vintage conditions are so bad that proper wine can not be salvaged..but at the same time, why would you want to hurt your brand? I like acid..I even like a bit of vegetal action going on...but these were really underripe green green. What shocks me even more is they actually released a FULL LINE of wine...They still made their Carrodus, they still made all of the different versions of their wine...and the prices were as high as ever. To see them do that to their brand was really disappointing and I felt embarrassed for them. I just kept thinking, do they think their customers are so blind that they'll buy this? Why not release them as an alternate label or different wine and just be thankful you got something out of the year...sell them cheap to your members and explain the situation.

Agree with comments on the poor 2011 releases. Have bought a number of vintages in the past but the 2011 tasting in Sydney, whilst really well run, was a total let down. Couldn't find one wine in the line up that I considered buying. Went with a couple of seasoned YY drinkers and view was universal.

Hopefully 2012 brings a return to form and back to the quality of, say, 2008 vintage...

Yarra Yering's a funny one. I've had some very good examples, with the '08 dry red no.1 most recently standing out as good to very good (I thought it showed very well at the Langtons tasting too), and various earlier vintages of that label also very good, outstanding even. The '09 I tried at the cellar door only, and didn't enjoy at the time, noting that Yeringberg also declassified that year for $15 from memory. I haven't yet looked at the more recent vintages. I've also spotted fairly regularly at Costco some of their wines (incl. the dry red no.1) a fair bit lower than the mailing list prices, which is sort of good, but rather undoes the point of a mailing list price, at least in my mind.

Interesting thread. My local wine merchant, who I've only just started buying from, recently recommended the '07 Underhill Shiraz to me.

Will crack it over the next week or two and see if he is getting the sack or not...

It isn't Yarra Yering in general..specifically the 2011 release was really disappointing...I've had a lot of great Yarra Yering...I just think if you're going to charge almost 100 a bottle for their regular line and 250 for their Carrodus line, it better be reasonably good....

maybs wrote:Interesting thread. My local wine merchant, who I've only just started buying from, recently recommended the '07 Underhill Shiraz to me.

Will crack it over the next week or two and see if he is getting the sack or not...

Personal opinion only....not a fan of the Underhill. Really it's only the No.1 that I like. Not tried the chardie or the Carrodus.

grapeobserver wrote:I've also spotted fairly regularly at Costco some of their wines (incl. the dry red no.1) a fair bit lower than the mailing list prices, which is sort of good, but rather undoes the point of a mailing list price, at least in my mind.

The biggest struggle I have with YY is the basic mailing list prices of ~$80 for every single one of their 25 wines...
Now I always say fair credit a winery is a business so charge as much as you can... but the consumer in me doesnt like to have to pay that much!

sjw_11 wrote:

grapeobserver wrote:I've also spotted fairly regularly at Costco some of their wines (incl. the dry red no.1) a fair bit lower than the mailing list prices, which is sort of good, but rather undoes the point of a mailing list price, at least in my mind.

The biggest struggle I have with YY is the basic mailing list prices of ~$80 for every single one of their 25 wines...
Now I always say fair credit a winery is a business so charge as much as you can... but the consumer in me doesnt like to have to pay that much!

Agreed - I think they could probably do with a second label in the $20s or even $30s to generate a bit more everyday interest. Ditto Mt Mary. I end up reading more than buying at the $80 mark. But I guess they're doing what works for them. Costco seems to have YY priced in the $60s which takes the edge off. A bit.

If any forumites are visiting the YY cellar door this weekend for the 2014 releases especially the 2012 Dry Red No1 please let us know your thoughts

Cheers
David M,

Hacker wrote:If any forumites are visiting the YY cellar door this weekend for the 2014 releases especially the 2012 Dry Red No1 please let us know your thoughts

Cheers
David M,

Can I take the lack of any responses to this as forum apathy to the Yarra Yering label, or did no one actually make it to the cellar door that weekend. Still not sure whether to order or not based on no feedback from any wine reviewers anywhere. Might save me some money!

Hacker never made it being in Sydney. Not sure if they will do a tasting for members medallion holders up here at some point?

They might..I think the 2011 one was because it was a tough sell....but hopefully they have the 2012 #1 at the Langtons thing...I'm hoping for the best...generally I like their stuff...

I just received my magnum of the 2012 #1... but I certainly dont intend to open it yet to see if I made a wise investment!!

sjw_11 wrote:I just received my magnum of the 2012 #1... but I certainly dont intend to open it yet to see if I made a wise investment!!

Excellent. I figured I've played the old Julie London classic; "Cry me a river" enough this week.

Hacker wrote:

Hacker wrote:If any forumites are visiting the YY cellar door this weekend for the 2014 releases especially the 2012 Dry Red No1 please let us know your thoughts

Cheers
David M,

Can I take the lack of any responses to this as forum apathy to the Yarra Yering label, or did no one actually make it to the cellar door that weekend. Still not sure whether to order or not based on no feedback from any wine reviewers anywhere. Might save me some money!

I didn't manage to get out there. I did cast my eye over the recent auction prices on the Dry Red No. 1 over on Langtons though. A range of $55 to $70 (excluding commission) in recent years from '07, slows any impulse I might otherwise have had. It's a good wine, but I'm not sure the mailing list prices are so member friendly.

rooman wrote:

sjw_11 wrote:I just received my magnum of the 2012 #1... but I certainly dont intend to open it yet to see if I made a wise investment!!

Excellent. I figured I've played the old Julie London classic; "Cry me a river" enough this week.

I'll flog this just this one more time - has anyone tried the 2012 version of the Dry Red No1 as yet? I have not seen one single writeup of this from anyone. Which is strange for such a well regarded name. I am itching for a reason to buy a six pack, but I need some justification. Anyone help? At $80 or so there is just so much else to choose from out there.

Hacker wrote:I'll flog this just this one more time - has anyone tried the 2012 version of the Dry Red No1 as yet? I have not seen one single writeup of this from anyone. Which is strange for such a well regarded name. I am itching for a reason to buy a six pack, but I need some justification. Anyone help? At $80 or so there is just so much else to choose from out there.

I think with the new ownership ( and I know the new owner, nice bloke actually) YY has had a bit of a change of direction. I am not surprised about the exorbitant price structure as the company running YY has made hundreds of millions and wants to make much much more.
Incidentally they also own Kaesler in the Barossa and their wines seem to have gone up a lot too.
Just hope YY does not become too corporatised or gets lost in the bigger picture.

Cheers
Craig

Wow, didn't notice the pricing is now up to $92 or $87 for "Medallion" member pricing ... and typically across the whole darn range

Anyway YY have just emailed out their Halliday scores if that helps at all:

BEST WINERIES OF THE REGIONS:
***** 5 STARS YARRA YERING – YARRA VALLEY

2012 Yarra Yering Pinot Noir 96 points
2012 Yarra Yering Underhill Shiraz 97 points
2012 Yarra Yering Dry Red No. 2 98 points
2012 Yarra Yering Dry Red No. 1 97 points
2012 Yarra Yering Dry Red No. 3 95 points

phillisc wrote:Just hope YY does not become too corporatised or gets lost in the bigger picture.

Think that particular horse may have bolted already...
GG

Oh and the Carrodus Shiraz / Pinot... now A$250 members only pricing!