By Jed Lanyon
Yarra Yering has been awarded Australia’s Best Winery according to The Real Review and wine critic Huon Hooke.
The Gruyere winery topped the list of 52 of Australia’s best wineries, while several Yarra Valley wineries were chosen amongst over 1000 entries.
Yarra Yering winemaker and general manager Sarah Crowe said the recognition came as a “very pleasant surprise.”
“I was actually tasting wine at the time; I was a little bit distracted and almost didn’t take the call, so I was pretty happy when I did and Couldn’t wait to tell everybody here at work,” Ms Crowe said.
Yarra Yering’s 2018 Carrodus shiraz scored the maximum 99 points, closely followed by their 2018 Dry Red No. 11 and several other wines Mr Huon described as “impressive”.
Ms Crowe said the announcement came with “lots of smiles” at Yarra Yering, who like many Victorian wineries, have been suffering from having their cellar doors closed during lockdown. She said the announcement saw a nice boost in online sales, but the win came as a “morale booster” for the winery in a difficult time.
“You can tell when people are happy, they have a spring in their step and they walk lightly. It was nice to see that, particularly when being in lockdown, so it’s nice to have some good news to lift everyone’s spirits,” she said.
“For me, I guess it’s nice to see that across all the wineries who submitted wines, that we’ve ranked the best at number one. It makes all the hard work and that internal turmoil you have about whether or not blends are right or how they are looking.
“For Yarra Yering, it’s nice to have a third party endorsement where all we do is send our wines in to be reviewed, so there’s no bias involved at all. It gives people faith in our wines and the faith that they can purchase them and are going to be happy.”
Eight Yarra Valley wineries featured on the list of 52 with Tarrawarra Estate earning 19th place, followed closely by De Bortoli at 21 and Yering Station at 22. Oakridge listed at number 28, while Yeringberg, Giant Steps and Levantine Hill featured at 33, 41 and 45 respectively.
Ms Crowe said she was happy to see the Yarra Valley well represented among the list of Australia’s best wineries.
“For me, that’s as good as us being number one. To see my friends and colleagues across the region being recognised for their beautiful wines and attention to detail and commitment to making really delicious drinks.”
