At present we flew from Adelaide to Melbourne, so we solely had time to complete one vineyard within the Yarra Valley: Coldstream Hills Vineyards of James Halliday. James (1938) was associate in a regulation agency till 1988, and moved to Melbourne in 1983. Since 1979 he has written quite a few books on wine and since 1986 he has printed an annual overview of Australian wine, the James Halliday Annual Wine Companion. In 1985 he based the Coldstream Hills vineyard in Yarra Valley.
We visited him at his house with an attractive view of the vineyard, his vineyards, and the Yarra valley.
Cees van Casteren, chairman of the Dutch affiliation of vinologists, inaugurated James as an honorary member of the affiliation.
James offered a vertical tasting of his Pinot Noir and Chardonnay:
- Coldstream Hills Vineyards Yarra Valley Pinot Noir 2022: spicy, silky texture
- Deer Farm Winery Pinot Noir 2017: spicy, recent, silky texture
- Deer Farm Winery Pinot Noir 2021: spicy, stunning tannins
- Deer Farm Winery Pinot Noir 2022: spicy, stunning tannins
- Coldstream Hills Reserve Pinot Noir 1991: earthy, complicated, wine nonetheless has fruit and construction in spite of everything these years
- Deer Farm Winery Chardonnay 2022: recent, creamy, mineral, elegant, good acidity
- Deer Farm Winery Chardonnay 2014 (cool wet classic, no pink made): mineral, complicated, recent
- Deer Farm Winery Chardonnay 2006: golden, creamy, honey, white peach, aged superbly
These have been outstanding wines made by a outstanding man. It’s superb how nicely the wines had aged, particularly the Chardonnays. The 2006 appeared prefer it was so much youthful. It was additionally noteworthy that the Pinots and the Chardonnays every had a typical aroma that was current in the entire vintages.
