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.

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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

New Halliday rating and Barossa At Home review

It is finally time to catch our breath as the previous months have been exceptionally busy. The good news is that our new labels are due to be printed this week so our 2008 Eden Valley Riesling and 2006 Shiraz Cabernet will be on the shelves adorned with the revamped labels sometime in July. It has been a long process but finally we came up with a design that kept in line with our original branding but smartened it up somewhat. I cannot wait to see them on the bottles!

Another exciting event for the week was a rating and short review of our 2008 Riesling (rated 4 and a half glasses and 92 points) from James Halliday so keep an eye out for the 2010 James Halliday Wine Companion to read James' full review. It normally hits the retail shelves in August.

Our Barossa At Home weekend was a success despite the last-minute cancellation of our dinner. We simply didn't sell enough tickets to make it a viable proposition but on speaking with other participants, we were not alone. That did not dampen our spirits for the weekend's wine tastings and it certainly proved to be successful in sales and in meeting new faces who ventured out in the chilly weather. All going well, we may try to arrange a similar event (a tasting and dinner) with our Collective counterparts in the warmer months.

The art display by the Bethany Art Group brought extra people out to visit us and it was terrific to see some of the artists attend. Their works were stunning and certainly brought the old stable to life. Many thanks to Tony and Phyl for all the work they did to get the display up in time.

James is getting organised to go to Brisbane for the Purple Palate events, and pruning in between. We have had lots of rain this winter so far and he has done well to keep on top of it. Not an easy task when he also has a full-time job elsewhere. It won't be long til I am up on the hill as well tying the vines on and before we know it, harvest will be here again.

As for now though, it is perfect weather for enjoying a glass of red at night by the fire. Winter is my favourite time of year and it is lovely to hear the squelching of the soil underfoot again. The vineyard is looking happy with itself and no doubt will do us well again this coming year after such good winter conditions.

New Halliday reviews and ratings

Every July, those of us who have submitted wines to James Halliday for inclusion (or exclusion if your wines are not up to a very high standard) into his Wine Companion book are able to finally see how our wines have fared. It's always a bit of a gamble as the personal preferences of writers, such as Halliday and Parker in particular, can either make or break your business.

2008 (for the 2009 edition) was the first year that an assistant was chosen to help sort through the enormous amount of samples received. Halliday chose Ben Edwards who is the head of the Australian Sommeliers Association. The 2009 edition of the Australian Wine Companion has tasting notes for 5778 wines, features 169 new wineries and overall, profiles 1661 wineries. Indeed, a large and comprehensive collection of too many wines to even attempt to try.

Considering we only submitted three wines this year, we are very happy with the results. This year Karra Yerta Wines received a general 4 star rating which means we are deemed "a very good producer of wines with class and character".

Our 2007 Eden Valley Riesling rated "highly recommended" at 90 points.
"..... a light-bodied palate with apple and lime fruit, with a touch of minerality on the finish. A success for '07".

The 2005 Barossa Shiraz and 2005 Bullfrog Flat Eden Valley Shiraz also both rated 90 points.

For full reviews, purchase the book or join online here: www.winecompanion.com.au