A real pleasure to have Kevin Glastonbury from Yalumba at Vic Park last week. Kevin is the senior red wine maker there and has been with Yalumba for almost 20 years. He’s entirely responsible for the premium and icon red wines from this iconic Barossa winery. We started the evening with the 2016 Virgilus Viognier, by far the finest example in the country. Then the delicious current releases of the lovely Menzies Coonawarra Cabernet, and their Octavius Old Vine Barossa Shiraz. In 2014 the average age of the vines going into this is 70 years of age. In 2013 it was well over 100 years!
Then it was on to the special vertical of The Signature, one of Australia’s finest cabernet Shiraz blends. 2006, 2008, 2013 from Magnum, 2013 and 2014. You can see the evolution of the style under Kevin, towards less oak and more elegance. The 2006 was drinking beautifully (after 7 hours of air) and you could consider opening this now. The 2008 is a powerhouse with another 20yrs ahead of it. His favourite wine of the recent vintages is the 2013 though, which he thinks will outlive us all.