Tasting notes for Yangarra Noir 2020 from the Winery

Grenache is the emerging hero variety of McLaren Vale. Traditional blends of Grenache from our region generally focus on the varieties Grenache (G), Shiraz (S) and Mourvèdre (M), and thus the term “GSM”. In 2008, we began planting a few obscure Southern Rhône and Priorat varieties in pursuit of producing a traditional old-world Grenache blend. Many of these varieties, including Grenache, have a blanc (white), gris (grey) and noir (black) expression of the variety, which lead to calling this wine the Noir.

Yangarra

Yangarra is a single-vineyard estate situated in the north-east of the McLaren Vale region, South Australia. Yangarra’s combination of ancient geology, high altitude and Mediterranean climate provide the ideal growing conditions for the best grape varieties of the southern Rhône. 

Vintage Summary

The 2020 growing season began with an extremely hot spring, resulting in the lowest yields on record. Luckily, as the grapes started their ripening process, the weather cooled to one of the mildest ripening seasons to date resulting in wonderful concentration of flavour, retention of natural acidity, brightness of fruit, and above all, beautiful finesse and balanced tannins. Although the devastating bushfires ravaged vast areas of Australia, McLaren Vale was fortunately spared, and our vineyards were unaffected by smoke taint.

Winemaking

Each grape variety was handled seperately until final blending to allow each variety to best exhibit its unique characteristics. Destemmed and mechanically sorted. 50% whole berries. Cold Soak. Open fermenters. 14-18 days on skins with a very gentle maceration. Wild yeast ferment. Kept on lees in 100% older French oak for 6 months. Bottled November 2020.

Technical Details

Variety: 45% Grenache, 19% Mourvédre, 19% Carignan, 12% Shiraz, 4% Cinsaut, 1% Counoise

Geology:North Maslin Sands (54 million years old)

Elevation:175m above sea level

Alochol:14.0%

PH: 3.51

TA: 5.7 g/L

(SKU: YG_NOR_20)