Strewth, mate!
What I should have recommended as an all-purpose Christmas wine was our Little Yering Pinot Noir 2003 from Yering Station. It's easy, lightish and very tasty. I took a bottle home last weekend and it was three-quarters gone before you could say knife, which is always an indicator of a wine that I can recommend to anyone. The price is right, too.
However, the future is looking other than rosy for the Yarra Valley, whence cometh the aforementioned. First of all there have been drought and frost, and then along comes an outbreak of phylloxera, the vine-munching insect whose specific name, vastatrix, devastating, is spot on. Here's the Australian phylloxera website. And here's a local article that mentions Yering. I'll be writing to Brett Fleming, our contact, to find out what he thinks the future holds. Meantime, try, and enjoy, the Little Yerings (there's a Shiraz-Viognier, too) while you can.
UPDATE 16/01/06: I've heard from Brett, and perhaps things aren't as bad as they seem. I look forward to meeting him in a few weeks' time and may have more news after that.
However, the future is looking other than rosy for the Yarra Valley, whence cometh the aforementioned. First of all there have been drought and frost, and then along comes an outbreak of phylloxera, the vine-munching insect whose specific name, vastatrix, devastating, is spot on. Here's the Australian phylloxera website. And here's a local article that mentions Yering. I'll be writing to Brett Fleming, our contact, to find out what he thinks the future holds. Meantime, try, and enjoy, the Little Yerings (there's a Shiraz-Viognier, too) while you can.
UPDATE 16/01/06: I've heard from Brett, and perhaps things aren't as bad as they seem. I look forward to meeting him in a few weeks' time and may have more news after that.
