Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/552044
{ SOMMjournal.com } 51 Yalumba 1961 Show Reserve Claret Blend: 61% Shiraz and 39% Cabernet Sauvignon "Classic old-school nose; dried berries, soy, leather and herbs. Smells like a great old Bordeaux—has texture and balance. This is a perfect time to drink it." —Rhett Gadke "Amazing freshness and lively tones." —Willi Sherer, MS Yalumba 1966 The Signature Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon Signatory: Harold Yates. Blend: 60% Shiraz and 40% Cabernet Sauvignon. "Dark chocolate, caramel sweetness. Opulent and delicious—almost cake-like. Fragrant and rich; notes of soy sauce, grilled meat and a soft tannin backdrop." —Meridith May Yalumba 1973 "The Signature" Galway Vintage Reserve Claret Signatory: Wyndham Hill-Smith (Robert's father). Grapes: 100% Shiraz. "Whoa. Gorgeous nose: blue fruits, rose petals, bourbon edge. I could spend all day smelling this perfume." – Rhett Gadke Yalumba 1975 "The Signature" Cabernet Sauvignon & Shiraz Signatory: Walter Smith. Blend: 85% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Shiraz, "It reminds me of a beef stock cube," notes Hill-Smith. "This was from a hot, dry year." "An initially understated nose is followed by some sweet dark fruit with a lifted accent of menthol/eucalyptus. Dark fruit, dark cocoa powder on the mid-palate with a stone/rocky soil character and some leathery notes. This wine is the flip-side of the 1961: warm, spicy and comforting versus cool, lifted, reserved and somewhat unyielding. Cabernet seems to have overtaken the generosity of Shiraz . . . at least at this stage in its life. Would love to taste this again in another ten years!" —Marian Jansen op de Haar Yalumba 1987 "The Signature" Cabernet Sauvignon & Shiraz Signatory: Dudley Ward. Blend: multi-region blend of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Shiraz. "It follows a Bordeaux footprint and this is one of the highlights for me. A tawny meniscus, with cedar-chocolate on the nose, leathery undertones and stone fruit." —Phil Abram Yalumba 1996 "The Signature" Cabernet Sauvignon & Shiraz Signatory: James Wark. Blend: 52% Cabernet Sauvignon and 48% Shiraz. "Luscious, sexy, let-your-hair-down flavors of blue flowers, heather and dark choco - late." —Meridith May "This is what comes to mind when I think about "The Signature": just a pleasure to drink, unctuous with a whack of blue and red fruits." —Rhett Gadke Yalumba 2001 "The Signature" Cabernet Sauvignon & Shiraz Signatory: Geoff Linton. Blend: 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Shiraz "A wine of considerable presence and extract. Dark and inky in the glass. The nose is dark-fruited with plums, blackber- ries and forest fruits but also shows lots of savory elements, dried herbs, some mint, stony minerals and black pepper. On the palate the wine has a grainy texture, plum skin, purple fruit, spice and a complex character of rum-soaked dates. The wine seems to be still evolving both in both flavor profile and texture and I still think the tannins might need time to fully resolve." —Ryan Woodhouse Yalumba 2005 "The Signature" Cabernet Sauvignon & Shiraz Signatories: Jeffery Smith & Gregory Pullen. Blend: 54% Cabernet Sauvignon and 46% Shiraz "Spicy with violets and a dense fruit nose with brambleberry, and intense minted blackcurrant fruit and warm baking spices on the mid palate, and a tarry/creosote edge on the dense, dark, lingering finish." —Marian Jansen op de Haar "Palate rides on sleek rails, with black pepper spice from the Shiraz allowed to stand out more than in other vintages. " —Phil Abram Yalumba 2010 "The Signature" Cabernet Sauvignon & Shiraz Signatory: Jane Ferrari. Blend: 52% Cabernet Sauvignon and 48% Shiraz "Structure, vibrancy, color, length and real mid-palate drive. This wine has it all. The fruit is fresh and bright—and the tannic structure holds it up to a broad drinking window. " —Ryan Woodhouse "Complex and linear ; just top notch." —Phil Abram Yalumba 2012 "The Signature" Cabernet Sauvignon & Shiraz Signatory: Robert Hill-Smith. Blend: 52% Cabernet Sauvignon and 48% Shiraz "The new and future Barossa. The most perfectly maturing and growing season; an extraordinary year." —Robert Hill-Smith "Floral, plum and red cherry nose with dense elegant fruits and spices. Texture is deep and plush with fine-grained tannins which at the same time appear weightless. A complex, layered wine with many years of evolution ahead of it." —Marian Jansen op de Haar "A great bookend to the line-up. Sexy lines and fruit with a great power to it. Age-ability is assured." —Rhett Gadke "If the 2010 Signature is destined to be a world-famous dancer, with its elegant, fine frame and precise lines, then perhaps the 2012 should be likened to a powerful, muscular gymnast. The wine is rippling with power from the outset. The nose is explosively aromatic with briary, bramble fruits; it's dense and saturated with wild exotic spices, toasty oak, and scorched earth . . . on and on it goes. The palate is juicy, flowing and viscous. The wine exhibits intense fruit sweetness and concentration but without any notable residual sugar or excessive extraction. The wine is very primary and raw right now, but I have no doubt this will provide great drinking over the next two, possibly three, decades." —Ryan Woodhouse The 1961 vintage sold for 60 cents a bottle in that year.