It’s nice to keep up with old favourites when new vintages come along, and here we have three wines from the family-owned Yalumba, who are headquartered in South Australia. Owned by the Hill-Smith family, Yalumba is the biggest player in their portfolio of brands, which also includes Pewsey Vale, Heggies, Oxford Landing and Jansz among others. It’s a sizeable company, now in its sixth generation, and run by Robert Hill-Smith and daughter Jessica.
This selection kicks off with the hugely reliable ‘Y Series’ Viognier, that grape something of a specialism for Yalumba and head winemaker Louisa Rosa. It also includes a wine from the certified organic ‘GEN’ series, and an example of the terrific old vine fruit to which they have access in the shape of the Bush Vine Grenache.
It’s great to see a company of this size, which certainly has to play at the supermarket level, but where every strata of thier huge portfolio seems to offer wines of integrity.
The Wines
(2025) Sourced from several South Australian wine-growing regions and made with wild fermentation plus ageing on the lees, aromatically this has excellent typicity and clarity, with apricot and almond, a touch of honeysuckle and spice. In the mouth the fruit is full and sweet, a creaminess to the texture fills the mid-palate, and the limey zest of the pithy acidity in the finish offers excellent balance. An honest and delicious wine that you might also find on promotional pricing occasionally.
(2025) So many different labels from South Australia's family-owned Yalumba, this stocked by Waitrose. From Barossa fruit, it was matured in a selection of French, Hungarian and American oak for 10
months. There's something quite meaty here, a sizzle of bacon rind perhaps, pepper and dark but not fantastically expressive fruit. In the mouth the sweetness is noticeable, very ripe fruit, plummy and with plenty of spice too. Big and chewy with its 14.5% alcohol, the finish a little angular for me.
(2025) Certified organic and vegan, this Shiraz is fermented with indigenous yeasts and made without synthetic inputs. The colour is a vibrant magenta-purple, and the fresh raspberry, cherry and red plum fruit also has an underlying balsamic quality, a little hint of florals and bell pepper too. In the mouth it is super-fresh, tingling on the tongue with spicy, peppery character underpinning the juicy red fruit. There is a hint of something very crunchy, I could say mineral, certainly the acid character bright and focused. With its moderate tannins and exuberance of the fruit this would suit chilling lightly for a summer drink and falls into the 'gluggable' camp, albeit with a bit of depth on the finish. Watch the
video for more information.
(2025) Harvested from heritage bush vine vines dating back as far as 1920, this is always a lovely wine. Creamy, pulpy red fruits dominate the aromatics, over spices and a violet note. A very positive bouquet leads on to a similarly plush and ripe palate. Red fruit still dominates, with nicely tart berry acidity, and a little hint of more chocolaty, rich depth. Tannins are quite firm, but have a silky ripeness for a full, but quite charming wine.
