A Deep Dive into the Yarra Valley
Taste 14 Of the Yarra Valley Finest
"The Yarra Valley has a reputation across Australia as being a region that is buzzing with creativity.
With experimental winemakers, pushing the boundaries, creating a culture of ground breaking, innovative winemaking that us driving Yarra Valley's reputation as one of the most exciting regions in Australia today.."
thevinorium.co.uk
Yarra Yering
Halliday Best Winery of the Year 2022
Halliday Best Wine of the Year 2022
Giant Steps
Halliday Best Winery of the Year 2025
Halliday Best Pinot Noir of the Year 2025
Mount Mary
Halliday Best Winery of the Year 2025
Halliday Best Cabernet & Blend 2025
Halliday Best Cabernet & Family 2023
Oakridge
Halliday Best Wine of the Year 2025
Hosted by the ‘Wine Animal’ Co-Founder Brenden Robnik
With Brenden’s down-to-earth style and genuine love for wine, he continues to win hearts and make waves throughout the wine industry.
From his tailored experiences that celebrate Australia’s wine culture to with his ever growing social media presence, Brenden has broken the mould and is connecting Australian’s to the world of wine!
Brunch: 10.00-12.30pm, 14 Wines & 4 Courses $245
Sunday October 27th
Meet Brenden
My name is Brenden (Brenno). I work as a carpenter during the day, and by night (and any other waking moment), I become a Wine Animal. My journey into wine began around the age of 30, but it didn't truly become a passionate pursuit until I was around 33. Wine evolved into an all-consuming hobby, and as my passion grew, I saw an opportunity to turn it into a legitimate business.
Yarra Valley Context:
The Yarra Valley is Victoria’s oldest wine region, with a history dating back to the area’s first settlers in 1838. The region’s first vines were planted on a property that now makes up Chateau Yering. Viticulture was quick to catch on, and smaller vineyards were established throughout the area. Ever since, this grand-old dame has experienced peaks and troughs in popularity, from reaching initial superstardom in 1881 to a renaissance act between 1968 and 1971, then another resurgence in its status in the 1980s.
Up until the 1990s, the Yarra Valley was the territory of small wineries and super-premium wines. It wasn’t until De Bortoli Wines of Griffith in New South Wales invested in a vineyard here in 1987 that larger ventures began to infiltrate this Victorian wine region. A spate of big names – Mildara Blass, Hardys, McWilliam’s, Chandon – started to move in on the Yarra Valley in the years that followed. Today, there are more than 100 Yarra Valley wineries and the area is as popular with domestic wine drinkers and aficionados as it is with international wine lovers. The region itself is known as one of the top locations for cool-climate wines in Australia.
The Yarra Valley is cool – temperature-wise, that is. When compared to some of Australia’s other top wine-producing regions, its climate is markedly milder. It is also cooler than Bordeaux in France, yet warmer than the more inland Burgundy.
winecompanion.com.au
The Wine list (Menu TBC)
1st Course
Giant Steps Sexton Chardonnay 2023, Our Price $82
Made from a 50/50% blend of Gingin and Bernard clones planted between 100 and 200m in Gruyere. Whole-bunch pressed to French puncheons (25% new oak) with 15% mlf. Right now, this is the most salivating and seductive of Giant Step's superb array of single-vineyard chardonnays from '23. Perfectly ripened white peach, pear and some marine scents lead onto the palate, which is gently textured, saline and structured. The finish is energetic, nutty and long.
97 Points Philip Rich, Halliday Wine Companion (July 2024)
Giant Steps Tarraford Chardonnay 2023, Our Price $82
Planted on a cool, south-facing slope in Tarrawarra. Whole-bunch pressed and barrel fermented in seasoned French puncheons and one ceramic egg. A vibrant green gold. Immediately appealing with its aromas of stone fruits, yellow apple, some lemon confiture and a touch of brine. Chalky textured, slippery and with a certain openness but finely detailed and structured too. Grapefruit pithy on the long, beautifully balanced finish.
97 Points Philip Rich, Halliday Wine Companion (July 2024)
Oakridge 864 Henk Chardonnay 2022, Our Price $110
From the highest section at Henk, around 260m. Hand picked, whole-bunch pressed to 500L French puncheons (20% new), wild-yeast fermented, matured for 10 months on lees. The first Henk to make an 864 since 2018 and worth the wait. A glorious wine opening with orchard fruits, freshly cut white pears together with a little sea spray and lightly grilled cashews. On the palate, this is restrained, tightly coiled and mouth-filling – you still taste this very precise wine long after you've taken a sip.
98 Points Philip Rich, Halliday Wine Companion (July 2024)
2nd Course
Giant Steps Primavera Pinot Noir 2023, Our Price $95
From Lou Primavera's 2001-planted vineyard at Woori Yallock; 15% whole bunches and matured in French barriques (25% new). A light, bright crimson. Aromas of strawberry compote, tamarillo, sage and rose petals. A little reduction and graphite too. The palate is succulent and plush with silky tannins, making this the yummo, drink-now, single-vineyard wine from Giant Steps in '23.
96 Points Philip Rich, Halliday Wine Companion (July 2024)
Levantine Hill Estate Pinot Noir 2020 , Our Price $95
Aromatic, smoky nose with hints of truffle and ceps. Precise clusters of tiny berries, fresh citrus, blood orange and dried rose are combined with forest floor nuances to make this quite special. A silky, creamy/coffee texture and smooth and soft tannins, result in an elegant and harmonious wine.
96 Points Decanter World Wine Awards
Yarra Yering 'Carrodus' Pinot Noir 2021, Our Price $275
Medium-light purple-red colour, bright and youthful, the bouquet likewise fresh and bright red-cherry, raspberry aromas, clean and fruit-driven. Intense, penetrating, finely-tuned and precise palate with tightly focused middle-palate flavour, great purity of cherry fruit flavour, a sweet-fruit core, and there's a seemingly impossible combination of refinement and plushness. Only medium bodied but concentrated and piercing. A pristine young pinot with a mighty future. (May 2023)
97 Points Huon Hooke, The Real Review
3rd Course
Punt Road ‘MVN’ Shiraz 2001, Our Price $95
Yarra Yering Dry Red Wine No2 2021, Our Price $125
Deep, bright colour and a marvellous array of spice aromas, the full spice cupboard, infused with some meaty/charcuterie nuances and the overall impression is of stacks of umami. The wine is medium-full bodied and it has intensity and drive without excessive weight, the tannins chiming in with drying grip and sapidity as it drives long on the finish and resonates through its authoritative aftertaste. Superb.
98 Points Huon Hooke, The Real Review (June 2023)
Yarra Yering Underhill Shiraz 2018, Our Price $105
Trophy Winner - Champion Wine of Show - National Wine Show 2019
Trophy Winner - Best Red Wine of Show - National Wine Show 2019
Trophy Winner - Best Shiraz of Show - National Wine Show 2019
Trophy Winner - Best Single Vineyard Red of Show - National Wine Show 2019
Top Gold - National Wine Show 2019
Yarra Yering Underhill Shiraz 2021, Our Price $105
Trophy Winner - Best Shiraz, Yarra Valley Wine Show 2022
Gold – Rutherglen Wine Show 2022
Gold – 2022 Melbourne Royal Wine Awards
Gold – Yarra Valley Wine Show 2022
Gold – Decanter World Wine Awards 2022
Sourced from a single block planted in 1973. Fermented with a combination of whole bunches and whole berries. Half the wine was fermented and matured in a 3500L French foudre (purchased in 2019), the other half in French puncheons (10% new). A medium–deep and very bright crimson. Lifted and immediately appealing with its aromas of black raspberries and violets alongside a cornucopia of spices including cracked black pepper, anise and fennel seeds. A gorgeous medium-weighted, intensely flavoured and long Yarra Valley shiraz with enough tannin to suggest patience will be rewarded. Great stuff.
98 Points Philip Rich, Halliday Wine Companion (August 2023)
4th Course
Mount Mary Quintet 2021, Our Price $190
Among the ten vintage flight that I was privy to, this is arguably the finest of them all, sitting pretty alongside its rival, the stunning 2015. Medium-bodied, taut and understated, as the Quintet always is. Graphite, pencil lead, blood plum and a fleck of red and black currant. The wine's signature, a kit of gorgeous, sinuous tannins that reflect the later picking windows of more recent years. This could easily be nudged up a point. Best after 2028.
98 Points Ned Godwin, jamessuckling.com (July 2023)
Yarra Yering Dry Red Wine No1 2021, Our Price $125
Gold – 2022 Melbourne Royal Wine Awards 2023
Gold – Yarra Valley Wine Show 2022
Gold – Royal Queensland Wine Show 2023
Platinum, 97 Points – Decanter World Wine Awards
100 Points – Tyson Stelzer
“The unique ability of cabernet sauvignon to unite the contrasts of perfumed lightness with deep concentration, grace with structure and elegance with enduring longevity is unparalleled in the wine world. Its finest expressions are at once emphatically fragrant and lighter than air and yet deeper, more concentrated, more enduring and more structured. No Australian wine of the modern era exemplifies this profound juxtaposition more emphatically than Yarra Yering Dry Red Wine No 1 2021. I anointed the 2019 vintage Wine of the Year in my inaugural year of editing the Halliday Wine Companion and personally scored it 99 points. The 2021 is unequivocally an even greater wine, with a line and length on an altogether different level. Is this the perfect cabernet blend? It's been nine years since I've rated an Australian table wine 100 points (Grange 2010) and it's time again.””
Giant Steps 'Harry's Monster' (Sexton) Cabernet Merlot 2004, Our Price $105
Good purple-red; classic merlot varietal character, with a mix of small red fruits; good balance and structure.
92 Points James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion (March 2022)
Too finish…
Punt Road Botrytis Semillon 2001, Our Price $55
Medium to full yellow-green; a rich and complex bouquet ranges through mandarin, peach and cumquat, the intense but nicely balanced palate following those fruit characteristics; nicely weighted and good length. From the Nehme Vineyard in the Riverina.
93 Points James Halliday, Halliday wine Companion (July 2021)