2005 Yarra Yering Vineyards Pinot Noir Yarra Valley
($75) Deep red. Impressively complex nose combines fresh and dried red berry aromas with fresh meat and forest floor nuances; this could pass for a Gevrey-Chambertin. Concentrated raspberry and blackberry flavors are complicated by bitter amaro and cherry skin notes and sweetened by floral pastille. Firms up on the chewy finish, which features an intriguing mineral quality and excellent persistence.
2005 Yarra Yering Vineyards Dry Red Wine No. 1 Yarra Valley
($75) Dark violet. Fresh red berry and cherry aromas are strikingly pure, with fresh floral and mineral nuances contributing to the impression of brightness. Crisp and focused, with vibrant redcurrant and wild strawberry flavors, silky tannins and a late note of licorice. Finishes brisk and clean, with a hint of pungent herbs and striking freshness and length.
2005 Yarra Yering Vineyards Shiraz Underhill Yarra Valley
($75) Deep violet. Dark berries, kirsch, raw meat and dried flowers on the nose, along with dark chocolate and licorice accents. Lush and creamy in texture; packed with sweet red and dark berry flavors underscored by musky underbrush, smoked meat and black pepper. This builds in sweetness on the finish, showing a strong creme de cassis quality and striking length. This is thicker and more pliant, as well as more gamey, than the No. 2 this year, but lacks the precision of that wine.
2005 Yarra Yering Vineyards Dry Red Wine No. 2 Yarra Valley
($75) Dark purple. Deep, seductive dark berry, candied plum and kirsch aromas are complicated by dark chocolate, dried flowers and black olive. Brighter on the palate, with strong raspberry and mocha flavors and a late note of cracked pepper. Wonderfully persistent and sweet on the finish, which boasts suave, silky tannins.
2005 Yarra Yering Vineyards Potsorts Yarra Valley
($75) Inky purple. Exotic, intensely perfumed bouquet of blackberry, musky plum, kirsch and underbrush, with a panoply of baking spice and pungent herb accents. Plush in texture but a bit ungiving today; the wine's slow-building dark berry preserve and bitter chocolate flavors are supported by solid tannins. Juicy and densely fruity on the broad, deep finish, which displays an intriguingly spicy, almost peppery quality. This wine, which is inspired by vintage Port, is made completely from Portuguese varieties. (Old Bridge Cellars, Napa, CA)
