Sex appeal in a swirl

By Mara Pattison-Sowden
SWIRLING, swishing and swilling were the sounds of the day when a barrel of international winemakers converged on the Yarra Valley.
Introduced to some of the best wines the valley has to offer, they came from as far as the United States and Canada to taste a variety of wines one taster said was “surprising, complex and compelling”, while another said the cabernet’s “essence and grip is pretty sexy”.
The Mail caught up with the tasters at Gruyere’s Yarra Yering, where winemaker Paul Bridgeman ran through a cabernet tasting.
“We want to bring ‘sexy’ back to the cabernet,” he said.
“It’s suffering a bit of an image problem.”
Mr Bridgeman said the Yarra Valley had a proven history of having wines that age with a traditional claret style.
“People in the Yarra will either forge their own path or stick to what they know.”
He said this year the wines had been better than they’ve ever been, “the vineyards are so much older and we have an amazing resource of wines”.
Yarra Valley wines have had a 30-year recognition on the world stage, Mr Bridgeman said.
He said many winemakers in the valley had an amazing capacity to trial different vats and make small changes enabling evolution, as wines should.
The group also visited De Bortoli, Yering Station and Oakridge Wines, staying at the RACV Healesville Country Club.