YALUMBA THE SIGNATURE CABERNET SAUVIGNON / SHIRAZ 2021

Gold Medal – New Zealand International Wine Show 2024
Gold Medal – Barossa Wine Show 2023

The 50th release of this Aussie Icon, this vintage named for Chris Gerhardy as the Signatory. This release continues a string of very good vintages. A classic blend of Barossa Cabernet and Shiraz. Undoubtedly age-worthy for many more years, this also has an approachability with super-smooth chocolate-berry vanillin oak, Christmas cake fruits and spices, a hint of smokiness and a sense of solidness on the palate. 

This is the kind of wine you need to have on hand to serve when you want to impress and you can have the confidence it will last in a good cellar for well over a decade if you forgot about it. Stunning value for a wine of its quality.

Winery notes (2021 Vintage)
"Each vintage of The Signature is named in honour of an individual who has made a significant contribution to the culture and traditions of Yalumba. It is with great pleasure we present our 2021 vintage to Chris Gerhardy. In 1972 he started working on the bottling line, then progressed into dry goods and labels, according to Chris he now holds “the lofty title” of Packaging & Development Manager. With over 50 years’ experience he has seen it all, from complete manual processing to full automation.

A beautiful, deep red in colour. Perfumed and seductive with alluring floral notes, red licorice, blackcurrant and dark cherry aromas. The palate is delightfully refined and balanced with generous, dark red cherry fruit merging into ironstone tannins. This is a full-bodied wine of great balance, style and defined fruit characteristics with a long, lingering tannin profile. A very elegant Signature.

Matured for 19 months in 23% new Hungarian hogsheads, French barriques and hogsheads, balance in older French and Hungarian barriques and hogsheads."

97/100 Dave Brookes, James Halliday's Wine Companion (2021 Vintage)
"This wine could easily be in the running for one of the best 2021 wines from the region. Deep in colour with stunning purity across the spectrum of blackberry, black cherry and dark plum fruits. Fragrant with citrus and almond blossom notes, aniseed, cedar, new leather, tobacco, panforte, bay leaf, wood spice and Christmas cake. Sporting a stunning fruit density and tension, it glides, thick with fine, billowing tannin, with a pitch-perfect cadence across the palate, lacy acidity playing its part in focusing the wine's intrinsic elements with aplomb. Pure, vital and beautifully composed. It's sure to be a classic. Drink by 2054."

98/100 Ray Jordan, WinePilot.com, July 2024 (2021 Vintage)
"One of Australia’s greatest wines that consistently showcases the virtues of this classically Australian blend of Cabernet and Shiraz. And from the first in 1962 it has been adorned by the signature of an individual who has made a significant contribution to Yalumba. In this case it is Packaging and Development Manager Chris Gerhardy. It is a wine that captures all that was good about this spectacular Barossa vintage. Effortlessly smooth and elegant with such seamless integration. Powerful yet refined fruit intensity with dark flavours of blackcurrant and tobacco leaf with a rich hit of dark plum. There’s a defining chalkiness that overlays, holding a keen focus to the long finish. Ranks among the very best of these releases over more than half a century."

5 Stars & 96/100 Huon Hooke, The Real Review, June 2024 (2021 Vintage)
"Deep ruby red into purple at the rim. Blackberry and mulberry, cedar and woody spice aromatics lift from the glass. A plush palate, loaded with perfectly ripe berry fruits at the fore. Spice, cedar and coffee all sit underneath, a melange of savoury pleasure that builds as the wine carries along the tongue. There isn’t a hair out of place, everything is exactly where it is supposed to be and it is that harmony that lifts and almost lightens it. But don’t be fooled, this is brimming with intensity and focus. A delight to drink now and will reward many years into the future."

96/100 Erin Larkin, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate (2021 Vintage)
"The 2021 The Signature Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz is vibrant and fresh on the nose, and it leads with cassis, raspberry and pink peppercorns. It's alive and electric with flavour. 2021 was a lovely season in the Barossa: cool, mild and long, with very little climatic pressure to pick prior to when producers deemed the fruit ready. There are hints of strawberry, scraped vanilla pod, coffee grounds and star anise. I really like the aperture of this wine, with its definition, focus and freshness."

95/100 Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front, July 2024 (2021 Vintage)
"This release is full-bodied, ripe, sweetened with oak and to an extent, old school. And yet the balance of it, and the way the fruit keeps pushing on through the finish, and the slippery-smoothness of the texture, and the way cabernet threads dust and leaf characters through bold, mouth filling blackcurrant and plum – well, let’s just say that it has a lot going for it. It’s a beautiful Australian red blend, blessed with beautiful fruit, beautiful fine-grained tannin and noteworthy length."