First taste: Top Yalumba wines from latest releases

Yalumba has released the second vintage of its flagship wine, The Caley 2013, and Decanter expert Sarah Ahmed was among the first to taste it alongside several other wines in the Australian producer's Rare & Fine Collection.

At a special tasting in Mayfair, London on 4 October, Yalumba winemaker Kevin Glastonbury presented the second-ever release of The Caley, a Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon and Barossa Shiraz blend from 2013.

Premium members can see Ahmed’s tasting note below

Vintage, terroir and craft were under the microscope at this tasting to mark the latest releases of Yalumba’s Rare & Fine Collection.

In a warmer, drier year, the second release of flagship red, The Caley, sports a more powerful tannin structure, explaining the higher proportion of Shiraz (45%) compared with 2012 (21%).

‘You needed more Shiraz to fill out the train tracks in 2013,’ said Yalumba’s senior red winemaker, Kevin Glastonbury, who describes the 2012 as feminine and the 2013 as masculine.

The Caley 2013 was released later, with more bottle age, following 20 months in new and old French barriques, as well as hogsheads.

Whilst it does not have The Caley 2012’s effortless beauty and flow, this more robust Cabernet-Shiraz could warrant a higher score in the future.

Glastonbury reckons 2013 is a shoulder year and, like 1998 and 1999, may surpass the highly acclaimed 2012 vintage given time. Taffeta or silk, the choice is yours.

The Caley story

The wine is a tribute to Fred Caley Smith, the grandson of the man who founded Yalumba in 1849, Samuel Smith.

In 1893 Caley Smith travelled the world observing scientific and horticultural developments in Europe, the US, the Middle East and India.

His insights, delivered by letter over his 18 month travels, helped to shape Yalumba’s vineyard management and sustainable ethics.

The Caley is part of Yalumba’s Rare & Fine collection, which includes its other premium wines such as The Octavius Old Vine Shiraz and The Virgilius Viognier.

Yalumba Rare & Fine tasting

Sarah Ahmed is an award-winning wine writer and educator, specialising in Australian and Portuguese wines. She also has her own website, thewinedetective.co.uk 

Additional text written by Laura Seal.

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