Yarra Yarra Dinner - Restaurant II (Brisbane)

As mentioned in an earlier post, the better half and I ventured out (with wine-buddy and lawyer extraordinaire Lynton and his beautiful wife Lisa) to the remarkable Restaurant II in Brisbane to an event put on by Yarra Yarra Vineyards and in conjunction with The Wine Emporium.

What a spectacular wine-filled evening!! It was hosted by wine maker and owner of Yarra Yarra, Mr Ian MacLean (pictured below) who was celebrating his classification by Langton's. We were extremely fortunate to be seated at the head table and enjoyed the company of Ian for the evening.

Pre-dinner we tasted the Sauvignon Blanc/Semillons of 1999 and 2003 with small leek and goat's cheese tartlets.

The main event was the vertical tasting of 10 vintages of The Yarra Yarra Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon from 1993 to 2003. The numerically astute amongst you will realise that this is 11 vintages, however there was no 1996 made as the vintage was too wet to allow a Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon to be made.

What a great test of a wine and a wine maker! 10 consecutive vintages all tasted at the same time.

The first 'flight' consisted of the 1993, 1994 and 1995 vintages tasted with pan-seared scallops and a seaweed risotto. Ian maintained his favourite was the 1993 but I have to say the 1995 was drinking particularly well and was my pick of the three. The amazing thing was that all three still had plenty of good strong acid (in balance) and there was definitely some time left in the wines. All three, but particularly the 1993, were reasonably tightly structured and very elegant. I started to score the wines on the 20 point scale and 100 point scale but was too slow and was missing most of the conversation so gave it away after 1993 (didn't even finish that one properly). But I did manage to jot down my some impressions and overall scores on the first three wines, incidentally matching their years.

1993 = 90-93/100 (fresh young leather aroma, maybe a bit herbacious? tannins very gentle but I was unsure of how tight and narrow the flavours seemed - maybe it is this wine has better structure than most I am used to)
1994 = 94/100 (good acid - the better half's pick of the three)
1995 = 95/100 (tannins still noticeably present but gentle)

The second flight of wines were the 1997, 1998 and 1999 which we had with veal fillet on a polenta base and with porcini mushrooms. Now we were talking some really serious wines with some improvement left in them. My pick for drinking well now was the 1997. Ian said the 1997 tended to polarise people - Halliday loved it but Jeremy Oliver didn't. He said he thought that of the three it had the least amount of time left. Ian's pick was the 1998, which was an elegant but powerful wine. I though it definitely had the greatest potential for longevity and improvement of the three. (On memory alone I would rate the 1997 at 96/100 and the 1998 at 97/100)

The last flight of wines was the 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003. Amazing! The 2000 was sensational, luscious and elegant - a 97/100 or maybe even a 98. We had the wines with lightly seared wagyu beef, carrot, parsnip and baby onions. The 2001 had an amazing intensity of flavour - more so than any of the other wines. When I said this Ian told me that the 2001 vintage was the hotest on record for them and the grapes that resulted where absolutely tiny - about the size of currents (but not shrivelled). He told me that the 2001 had rated all over the place and he felt it was generally misunderstood and that all it needed was a good deal more bottle age. I honestly cannot recall the 2002 that well (because we also had some of his 2000 merlot in there somewhere) and all I remember about the 2003 was the same fine structure and elegance.

What an amazing body of work for the wine maker. He told me he was never embarrassed to show any of them anywhere. Ian was extremely down to earth and took our amateurish comments and questions with good humour and freely shared his knowledge and experience.

I hope I have done the wines justice as towards the latter end of the evening I couldn't recall which wine was which of the last flight - especially as some glasses were topped up and others weren't. What a great night!!

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cabernet sauvignon