Affordable varietal flavours in Casellas’ new Yendah range

If there is an Australian wine drinker who has not heard of [yellow tail], I want to know where he or she has been the last few years. If that same drinker is unfamiliar with the Casella family, the low-profile owners of this record-breaking global wine brand, I quite understand. But, if that drinker was aware of the Yendah wine brand, also produced by the Casella family, I’d frankly be rather surprised.

Home to a collection of wines from non-mainstream varieties sourced from different Australian regions, Yendah’s current collection offers an attractive marriage of freshness, drinkability, varietal integrity and value for money. Priced in the mid teens and below, the 2005 releases make a compelling offering, even in these days of cleanskins, discount warehouses and loss leaders.

The 2005’s comprise a Pinot Grigio and a Viognier from the Riverina, a Sangiovese from Clare, plus a Tempranillo and a Durif from the Goulburn Valley. As a group they are generously flavoured, but exhibit a tightness and focus that lends them to accompanying food more than many wines from these varieties. The whites, particularly, are as refreshing and vibrant as they are true to type.

‘These wines are close to our heart, reminiscent of the varieties our family has enjoyed for generations’, says John Casella, Managing Director of Casella Wines. ‘Yendah makes us proud of our heritage and excited by our future.’

John Casella’s parents, Filippo and Maria Casella, emigrated to Australia in 1955. They settled at Yenda, in the NSW Riverina, in 1965, building a small winery there with the idea to sell wine to cane-cutters in Queensland. Today, thanks to the success of [yellow tail], which has sold more than 280 million bottles since 2001, the family is Australia’s greatest single wine exporter.

While John Casella has masterminded [yellow tail]’s success, he is actually a committed winemaker with strong ambitions to be known for more than the commercial appeal of his major brand. Yendah, which was formerly known as Yendah Vale, gives him and his winemaking team headed by Alan Kennett the opportunity and the vehicle to compete in the emerging category of non-traditional varieties for the Australian market.

The 2005 Pinot Grigio is clean, austere and slightly mineral, delivering floral, honeysuckle aromas, fresh citrus flavours and nutty undertones culminating in a tangy, savoury and almost salty finish. It offers generosity and juiciness without the broadness and clunky fatness not uncommon in Australian pinot grigio.

Round, succulent and generous, the 2005 Viognier is a heady wine, scented with apricot blossom and cinnamon. Smooth and juicy, with lusciousness is balanced by tightly knit acidity, it finishes with lingering citrus and stonefruit flavour.

A flavoursome and tightly balanced wine whose intense berry/cherry and dark plum flavours are framed by a fine-grained astringency, the 2005 Sangiovese reveals undertones of minty, menthol-like regional Clare Valley quality. It’s medium to full in weight, with fine drying tannins and lingering varietal brightness.

An earthy, dark and chocolatey red, the 2005 Tempranillo marries dark plum and slightly sour-edged red cherry fruit with sweet vanilla oak and a refreshing lick of acid. It’s another savoury, food-friendly wine with some meaty, rustic undertones.

Typically firm and spicy, the 2005 Durif is a riper style of red whose palate-staining expression of slightly raisined, plumcake-like flavours overlie meaty and leathery complexity. There’s a slight rawness about its astringent tannins, but it’s true to style and likely to develop well.

Most wine drinkers will be aware of the mushrooming number of wines made from recent or ‘alternative’ varieties. I have been slower than many other critics to get behind many such wines, simply because I wasn’t convinced by the quality or lack of such in the bottle. Today, with more mature vineyards of better clones in better sites, we are beginning to see a steady improvement in the quality of these wines, and I am finding the spread to be wider, more interesting and more exciting.

Yendah is a project dating back six vintages whose new offerings accurately reflect these developments. It’s a fine entry point to each of the five varieties it represents, so if you haven’t been convinced by other sangiovese, tempranillo, viognier and pinot gris in particular, it might be a worthwhile place to rekindle your interest.

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