Winter is a busy time of the year for the Yallingup winery as it prepares to celebrate the 30 year anniversary of the establishment of the estate with the release of a new winter menu, new dining options and two new wines.
Thirty per cent of the yet-to-be-released Aravina Rose has been sold ahead of the release on August 2.
General Manager Hayley Munro-Tobin said the release came on the heels of high praise for the estate’s products.
“This year has been highly successful with our ‘Wildwood Ridge’ range of Cabernet Sauvignon 2014 and Chardonnay 2015 taking top honours amongst various wine shows and wine reviewers,” she said, noting wine expert James Halliday’s inclusion of the Chardonnay in his ‘Wow Factor Whites’ at 96 points.
“The next 12 months sees some exciting new small batch releases from our plantings of Malbec and Tempranillo and the completion of our wine making facility and barrel room on-site,” Ms Munro-Tobin said.
The 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon also performed well with judges prior to release, scoring a ‘Highly Recommended’ in Decanter and collecting a win at the 2016 Australia NZ Boutique Wine Show.
The estate’s wine production is overseen by winemaker Ryan Aggiss, and Ms Munro-Tobin said the proof of their success was in the sales of the rose bottles.
“We are excited to be releasing our rose shortly even though 30 per cent is already sold,” she said.
“Our customers enjoy the off-dry style that exhibits aromas of summer berries, white flowers and red apples with a finish of tiny bubbles and slight effervescence.
“This vintage is our first rose that is vinified from the Estate, mixed clone Tempranillo (70 per cent) and E block Shiraz (30 per cent).
“Ryan and I have worked closely together to ensure we capture the essence of ‘summer in a glass’ for this release.”
Mr Aggiss described the rose as “vibrant, lively and classy,” and said the latest wines embodied the culture and environment of the estate.
“This (rose) embodies how we feel at Aravina every day,” he said.
“The Cab Sav is from a benchmark vineyard, perched atop the Leeuwin Naturaliste ridge in an ideal mesoclimate for growing grapes.
“Low yielding, open fermented, classy French oak all help to showcase the fruit, not the winemaker.”