2015 The Caley Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz
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Tasting notes
60% Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Barossa Cabernet Sauvignon, 26% Barossa Shiraz. Cabernet vines average 23 years of age, Shiraz vines average 106 years. Matured for 21 months in French barriques, 46% new and the balance at least 2 years old. Rich, ripe nose. Sweet ink! Dry undertow. Still youthful. This wine has still got somewhere to go. (JR)
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Jancis Robinson MW
Richard Hemming MW, jancisrobinson.com
More reviews and scores
The latest vintage of Yalumba's super cuvée—the 2015 The Caley Cabernet & Shiraz—is a blend of 74% Cabernet Sauvignon from Coonawarra and 26% Shiraz from Barossa (mostly from a Nuriootpa vineyard planted in 1901). Aged in almost 50% new French oak (all Yalumba-coopered), it offers up scents of mint, cassis, cola and plum. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, concentrated and streamlined, very much Cabernet in style. It's richly tannic and clearly needs time, possessing a long, dusty finish that features raspberry, cherry and herbal flourishes alongside subtle hints of cedar and vanilla.
Pretty shuttered nose, especially after the 2014. Lots of primary toasty oak on the palate, with really chunky tannins that leaves a firm and potent persistence. Lovely youthful fruit in full effect. Touch of graphite and liquorice adding complexity. This has lovely completeness, with the acidity and alcohol integrating much more convincingly than in the 2012 and 2013. (RH)
The fourth vintage of Yalumba's new classic Australian blend . 74% Coonawarra Cabernet and 26% Barossa Shiraz aged in new and seasoned Yalumba-coopered barriques and hogsheads. Yalumba's winemaker Kevin Glastonbury describes the 2015 vintage as combining 'the fruit purity and tannin of the 2012, the structure of the 2013 and the generosity and approachability of the 2014'. Bottled on 29 June 2017. Will be released internationally in September 2020. Dark crimson with some evolution at the rim. A certain dustiness and definite Australian (Coonawarra?) mintiness on the nose. Then some dry tannin. Halfway between the Penfolds concentrated style and the Henschke more relaxed, classic style. Pretty marked acidity at this point. I'm sure this will age very well, but at the moment it doesn't really ring my bell – too dry and tart for me at this point. (JR)
About the producer
Based in the tiny village of Angaston in the Barossa, South Australia, Yalumba is the country's oldest family-owned winery. The estate produces a broad range of wines from entry-level to ultra-premium, such as The Caley.