Concentrated, intense black cherry liqueur flavors, opulent and smooth and rich.

At the ripe age of 34, Peter Fraser has made wine in Spain, France, the United States, and Australia. His current project happens to be in this latter country, where he has been making wine for Yangarra since the inaugural harvest in 2000. At Yangarra, he focuses on Rhône varietals, which seem to thrive in the cooler part of McLaren Vale - and which already have made the young winery an icon in the region. The Yangarra Estate Vineyard 2005 High Sands Grenache, McLaren Vale is an extraordinary wine. Silky and rich with racy, jammy, spicy blackberry and blueberry fruit, it delivers pure, intense acidity and elegant flavors.

Lots of blackberries with spicy notes in this McLaren Vale offering. Very extracted. Great Value, too.

In another twist, the tasting started with the red wines, two that provided a striking New World-Old World contrast: Yanagarra Estate Grenache Shiraz Mourvedre Cadenzia McLaren Vale 2004 (93 pts. $25) saw extensive aging in new oak...Trotter was tyring to have a dish that would stand up to the power and concentration of the Australian wine. The audience liked both pairings, but gave the edge to Yangarra in their voting....Puck countered with a dih he called duck on duck on duck. I was surprised how food-friendly the Yangarra is, said the chef, It's riper, more approachable now.

Peter Fraser makes this Yangarra Estate beauty for Kendall-Jackson, one of America's biggest wine companies, and we're lucky that the whole lot doesn't flood Stateside. It comes from one of the most prized old vineyards in the Vales, on a big sandhill that grows, among other things, some of the state's best grenache. This is polished, intense and almost sullen wine that deserves a year or two before you trouble it. It's no early-drinking bimbo, but a dead serious, full-bore, very accomplished and confident dry red.

A truly expressive take on merlot, its lush cherry-berry fruit punctuated with a note of eucalyptus.

Our best of class in merlots priced $13-$25, this is a truly expressive take on merlot, its lush cherry-berry fruit punctuated with a note of eucalyptus.

A merlot with a ripe, sweet mouth-feel. Layers of red and black fruit. Notes of mint and eucalyptus. Long finish.

5 Australian red wines bursting with youthful vitality, just in time for summer This is the sixth vintage of a preservative-free red from Yangarra, and it's an absolute cracker: lots of slurpy dark fruit, fine silky tannins. It was made from certified biodynamically grown grapes, so make sure you pair it with some fine biodynamically farmed lamb – preferably skewered on rosemary twigs and grilled over charcoal.

Yangarra Estate Vineyard 2017 McLaren Vale ORGANIC/BIO-DYNAMIC 'KINGS WOOD' #SHIRAZ - made with wild yeast + open fermenter, bright lively aromas of plums & herbs with a hint of spice, smooth rich- ever so tasty palate with masses of flavour & a tight, grippy, lingering finish. A great wine now or wait a while for it to round out some more and become TRULY SUPERB!

Undiscovered Melbourne still surprises and delights My favourite course? Okay, if I’m forced to choose, then the Cape Grim beef from north-western Tasmania, served with mushrooms, charred baby onions, dried lactose and a glass of concentrated Yangarra PF 2017 Shiraz from South Australia’s McLaren Vale.

Then there is the 2017 SHIRAZ which has big, blousy aromas of plums, red berries and a smidge of dried herbs. It has a gorgeous mouthful of ripe flavours, great balance with just the right amount of tannins and acid, with a lingering finish. This is not a Barossa style blockbuster Shiraz, it is sophisticated and svelte – A bloody gorgeous contemporary Shiraz!

A Toast to Earth Day - The Biodynamic Wines of Yangarra The perfect wine to toast Earth Day, this wine is made without chemical additives. Preservative Free(PF), and no additions of any kind: sulfur, acid, tannins or fining agents. The PF Shiraz is made from grapes grown on certified biodynamic single-estate vineyard, grown without herbicides, fungicides or synthetic chemicals. It’s medium bodied, fresh, fruit driven wine that is delicious enjoyed as a young wine.

The "PF" is for "preservative free," and, far from oxidized, this burly Shiraz, coming to us from Down Under by way of Jackson Family Wines, shows signs of "reduction," which is basically the opposite of oxidized. Just a touch of reduction, however, accents the savor of liquefied dried plum with gamey, chocolatey notes. Not fined or filtered, it leaves a chunky residue of organic material in the bottom of the last glass—and a pretty favorable memory of the category, as well. Four stars.

Yangarra Estate Vineyard 2016 McLaren Vale 'IRONHEART' #SHIRAZ - BIO-DYNAMIC made in open fermenters with wild yeast & 35% new oak. Almost inky black in colour. Big bright aromas, divine complex flavours with a goodly dollop of smooth vanillin oak- silky smooth yet powerful- A BRILLIANT CLASSIC SHIRAZ!!

Yangarra are doing all the right things with the vines and land they own (they were certified biodynamic in 2012) and have been producing iconic McLaren wine for some time now. That said, Yangarra’s shiraz shows a little more restraint than a typical McLaren red, opting to exhibit the cool climate nuances of the estate vineyard. The nose shows deep red fruit with notes of kirsch and desiccated cherry. A fine nose it is, but where this wine really shines for me is on the palate. Layers of dark fruit and texture roll over the tongue and the tannins are at once a little dusty and drying without sacrificing precision and detail.

Peter Fraser bottled his first preservative-free Shiraz in 2013. Because he was nervous about sending such a naked wine into the wilds of the marketplace without any preservatives, he sterile-filtered it. After tasting it in late 2013 I asked whether he’d bottled some of the batch unfiltered, as a comparison out of interest. He hadn’t, but the following year he did - and he and I both prefer the way the unfiltered version is ageing: unlike the round, sweet, softness of its filtered counterpart, the raw, completely unadulterated 2014 PF Shiraz (certified biodynamic viticulture, wild yeast, no added acid, no fining, nada, zip) has a lovely earthy complexity and sense of place. Despite the success of that trial, though, Fraser did filter his 2015 - partly because the success of the first two vintages has led to greater demand from more distant markets such as the US, and he isn’t confident that a totally unprotected wine will always be stored with appropriate care. Nevertheless, this young, vivid wine is beautiful: essence of purple fruit, lively, juicy, spicy.

Top 100 Australian Wines of 2018 - #91 Dark plums and some lighter redder fruits, as well as spicy, earthy and tarry elements. The palate has a seamless, deep-set and layered mouthfeel with a strong and fresh spine of dark plums. 95 points.

Gold Medal

Gold Medal

Gold Medal

A Toast to Earth Day - The Biodynamic Wines of Yangarra This wine is all about texture. The meaty blueberry hint is sometimes like prosciutto or other dark charcuterie meats; the figgy base tones provide a solid base flavor, the cleansing natural acidity working with the tannins to draw the finish out to a delicious taper with a long aftertaste where those cherries evident in the bouquet.

Yangarra Estate Vineyard: Southern Rhône Specialists in South Australia’s McLaren Vale 2014 Yangarra Estate Vineyard Shiraz — brilliant ruby in the glass with generous aromas of red fruit, dried herbs and black tea aromas. Flavors of tart red fruit, crushed flower stems, dried herbs are supported by juicy acidity. Tannins are substantial and drying, but well integrated with the flavors. The body is medium and the length moderate+. This lovely (and lively) Shiraz shows an exciting tension between the red fruit flavors and acidity that is punctuated by drying tannins. It is a delight to sip and made a delicious pairing for oven roasted chicken and Brussels sprouts with bacon.

Outstanding.

To quote the late, great David Bowie, “leather, leather everywhere…” A-.