"Exquisite... capturing all the senses." - The Wine Companion, 99 points

Yarra Yering's 'Dry Red Wine No.2' is their Rhone blend (95% Shiraz, 3% Mataro and 1% Viognier and 1% Marsanne) and although you can take the grapes out of the Rhone, you can't take Australia out of the wine, so it tastes like a Cote Rôtie on holiday on Bondi Beach. The fruit is joyful and relaxed, and despite being made from seriously gnarly, old vines, it tastes soft and playful, bursting with bonzer black and blue fruits. It's only medium-bodied (with an appetising alcohol content of 13.5%), so you can enjoy it without food, but it really deserves some decent tucker. Drink now-2034. NB Closed with cork.

Press reviews:

The Australian Wine Companion: "Follows Bailey Carrodus's method of co-fermenting Shiraz with small amounts of Viognier, Marsanne adding floral notes, and Mataro adding spice. It's another exquisite wine from 2017, capturing all the senses immediately you assess the bouquet and palate. It's only just into medium-bodied territory, but it's mouthwatering in its intensity, red fruits flying high like a gaudy scarlet kite." 99 points

Houn Hooke, The Real Review: "Deepish red colour with a purple tint and a reserved bouquet of red and darker fruits, laced with subtle spices. A hint of oak char. It's medium to full-bodied and very elegant in the mouth, with fine-grained tannins and some appealing cinnamon nuances to the mixed spice aromatics. The wine has a refined, silky texture and glides through the mouth. Red cherry and raspberry fruit flavours predominate. It's not a big wine, but the aftertaste lingers on for a very long time. Outstanding! Drink now-2037."  97 points

The Wine Advocate: "The wines of Yarra Yering are prized in Australia for their luminescent fruit profiles and masterful handling of tannins both in the vineyard and at the hands of winemaker Sarah Crowe. At five years of age, this 2017 Dry Red No 2 (Rhone Blend) has done nothing but settle into its own self: it has retained the seductive and silky flow of flavor in the mouth that it had on release and shows that time is not bothering it. Almost suspended in animation, the wine verges on unevolved - it has barely moved through its first stage of development. What a superstar. Awesome. Drink now-2042." 95 points

Jancis Robinson MW: "Dark crimson. Very together, well-melded confident nose. Already very pleasing on the nose and then tightens up on the end. Tastes neither Australian nor Rhône. Maybe it’s Yarra Yering! Drink now-2030." 17.5 points

Winemaking
The fruit was hand picked, sorted and destemmed directly to the Yarra Yering half-tonne open-fermenters. As much berry as possible was retained to encourage perfume. Some stalks were added back to some of the fermenters in order to contribute structure and aroma. A portion of the fermenters had frozen Viognier skins added to the bottom, some with Marsanne skins. The wine was aged for 12 months in French oak barriques, 30% new before blending and bottling.