2001 YARRA YARRA RESERVE MERLOT - YES, MORE MERLOT!

Until being hit by the tragic bushfires of 2009, tiny Yarra Valley producer Yarra Yarra was one of Australia’s leading exponents of Bordeaux-styled wines, white and red. The McLean family is in the process of rebuilding, and we look forward to seeing future vintages of these fine, elegant wines.

In the meantime, let’s have a look back at an older vintage of Yarra Yarra Reserve Merlot, in this instance from the 2001 vintage. A decade or so on from vintage, the wine displays signs of maturity on the nose and palate, with suggestions of leather and roasted meat juices. Medium in body, it reflects the elegance one always associates with this fine property. It is a good wine, no doubt, but like most Australian single varietal Merlots leaves one wondering how much more interesting the wine may have been with a judicious addition of the two Cabernets, as in St Emilion.

2001 RESERVE MERLOT
Producer: Yarra Yarra
Variety: Merlot
Vintage: 2001
Region: Yarra Valley, Victoria
ABV: 13.5%
Closure: Natural cork
Retail Price: N/a
Date tasted: 1 November 2010

Tasting Note:
Medium garnet, fading slightly at the rim. Maturing nose of Satsuma plums, roasted meat juices, smoky oak, leathery notes. Dry, medium bodied, savoury, mouthfilling but not heavy or cumbersome; plum, leather and spice. Drinking well now. A good example of Australian single varietal Merlot, but one wonders what a touch of Cabernet could have done?
Score: 16/20