2007 Yering Station Pinot Noir $26 retail

When visiting the Yarra Valley back in 2008 I found Yering Station to have a large and well-run cellar door. The wines were mostly good value for money and the staff were very friendly (even suggesting other wineries where I could scratch my Chardonnay, Cabernet and Shiraz itches). Their Shiraz Viogner is always dependable and I was a big fan of the 2006 Pinot Noir. Unfortunately, this Pinot from 2007 is a clear example of what smoke taint can do to an otherwise above average wine.


2007 was a very tough year for the Yarra Valley, with bushfires and frosts; with a few more years of bottle age from release, this wine smells unmistakably like smoke – that is the first and lasting impression. With a swirl it reveals some nice strawberry and spicy plum notes, and this is backed up on the front palate. The fruit is subdued on the middle palate and overpowered on the finish once again by an acrid smoke taste. The wine finishes with a ‘waking up in the morning after spending 8 hours in a smoky club’ kind of flavour, and lingers long after the underlying fruit fades.

A real shame as there is enough in this wine to suggest the fruit would have produced a very good end product if the region was not hammered by bush fires and smoke taint. Unfortunately for wines of this vintage, the ashtray tastes and smell will only get more pronounced with age as the primary fruit dies down. The joys of Mother Nature I guess.

PS - Parramatta Oscar did not have any of the wine, though he was keen on some....