Recent Ratings and Awards - July/August 2010

The end of July always signifies the release of the James Halliday Wine Companion. We submitted four wines for the 2011 edition and again, received some very encouraging and rewarding scores, which I will place at the end of this blog entry.

We also quietly released our Karra Yerta 2007 Shiraz Cabernet, which was featured in The Big Red Wine Book recenty. This particular wine was also reviewed by Philip White in "The Independent Weekly" 22nd July, 2010, the review of which is published below.

2007 Karra Yerta Wines Shiraz Cabernet

$25; 14.5% alcohol; screw cap; 93++ points

Made by hand by James Linke, with fruit from the Barossa floor and the Karra Yerta Vineyard on the wind-whipped Flaxman’s Ridge, this lissom red comes from a different era.

It is nothing like the industrial mono muck that the modern industry churns out.

It has intensity but modesty, extreme confidence, but elegance. It has no jammy, gluggy aspects, but rather a slender, refined, supple form, with a bouquet that simply oozes good health and living berries.

Amongst all that fresh ripe fig and prune, mulberry and blueberry, there’s a tantalising hint of Brazil nut. It’s like fruit cake mix before it hits the oven.

*******************************************************************

2011 Wine Companion results

Karra Yerta Wines was rated a four star winery which is a terrific rating for someone as small as us, with not a great deal of history and a very small range. Our wines submitted for this edition were scored as below:

Karra Yerta Wines 2007 Shiraz Cabernet
Rating 92 Drink 2017 $25 Date Tasted Feb 10

Karra Yerta Shiraz Cabernet 2006

Rating 91 Drink 2016 $25 Date Tasted Feb 10

Karra Yerta Eden Valley Riesling 2009

Rating 91 Drink 2017 $25 Date Tasted Feb 10

Karra Yerta Sparkling Shiraz NV
Rating 89 Drink 2015 $35 Date Tasted Feb 10

The W Files: Winter, Wine, Wine Front & Walsh

Winter has hit the Barossa Ranges. It's magnificent. Rainy days, freezing nights, and the daily evening drive up to the Ranges, via Mengler's Hill, is always challenging in the thick pea-soup fog. I simply love it! This area never ceases to amaze me with its natural beauty no matter what season it is but in the winter it really puts on a show. If you are out and about early enough in the mornings, as you drive into Angaston, the gullies fill with mist and it really does look like there are oceans between the hill-top ridges. It is also the season for home-cooked farm-style meals and lots of red wines. Divine.

So it's no surprise that June is the release date for a very special book written by two passionate wine appreciators, Campbell Mattinson and Gary Walsh. Their job must be rather intense working their way through numerous tasting samples submitted to them throughout the year, but somehow they seem to survive, and come up with a terrific guide for the punters. We are absolutely thrilled to announce that Karra Yerta has an inclusion in the 2010/2011 edition. The Big Red Wine Book is available from any good book store for around $24.95 and you can also follow the guys on their Twitter site or become a member of their website, The Wine Front.

We suggest that you grab a copy of this book as soon as possible as there are some sensational recommendations in it (more than one thousand!), but in the meantime, here is the review that Gary wrote on our newly released 2007 Shiraz Cabernet. For your information, 93 points falls into the 91-94 point category which is described as 'Excellent. Better than excellent. Hunt out a good price and buy up'. We also featured in the Best Red Blends over $20.

Karra Yerta 2007 Shiraz Cabernet
Price: $25
Region: Barossa Valley, Eden Valley
Alcohol: 14.5%
Seal: Screwcap
Value: 4/5
Auction: N/A
Score: 93/100

Only 170 dozen of this wine produced.
2007 Release.
It's not a big wine but it's full of flavour and charm. It's beautifully made too. It tastes of chocolate, florals, menthol, blackberries and pepper spice. There's a nice clip of cedary oak too. Chewy tannins add texture and it has a long, chocolatey finish. Lovely quality and lovely to drink. Walsh describes it as 'a real elbow tilter'. DRINK 2010 - 2017.