97 POINTS
Campbell Mattinson - Halliday Wine Companion
It falls safe into the hands of excellence. It has the shape, complexity, fruit power, overall balance and then the length to make its price-tag look justifiable. It's going to age like an absolute beauty. Both intricately and firmly tannin, ripped with blackcurrant, lightened by mint and slipped with undergrowth and cedar wood characters. Nothing is overdone and yet everything has a presence, a power.
96 POINTS
Josh Raynolds - Vinous
Glass-staining ruby. Smoke- and spice-accented black and blue fruits, incense, potpourri, vanilla and pipe tobacco qualities on the hugely expressive, finely detailed nose. Palate-staining cherry-vanilla, blackcurrant preserve, chewing tobacco and fruitcake flavors show impressive depth and are lifted and sharpened by a spine of smoky minerality. Gains flesh and weight with air while retaining energy and finishes alluringly sweet and extremely long, with supple, slow-mounting tannins adding discreet grip.
95 POINTS
Mike Bennie - The Wine Front
The Caley. Comes with its own mini-book (a hardcover, mini-diary-sized thing that explains what the wine is), a special, lined box (the mini-book slides out of the frame of the box), and now a full size book explaining the wine and how good the launch event was (with testimonials from wine writers). Amongst the materials, I found that the main Coonawarra cabernet component comes from something called the ‘Ming D block’. Anyone who has a history in Sydney’s historical rave culture will remember the mighty music force that was/is Ming D the DJ and party producer. Ming D was responsible for some of my favourite rave track mixed tapes (tapes!) and some of my favourite (outdoor) rave party/bush doofs, back in the day. I am really hoping there’s some viticulturist in Coonawarra getting about in an oversized smiley-face ‘Don’t Worry Be Happy’ t-shirt and distressed Carhartt overalls with chunky British Knight sneakers, who named the block for this significant DJ for this epoch. Anyway, I shouldn’t be writing so flippantly about this kind of stuff in a wine review for a wine this fancy and with that much marketing collateral attached to it. Unseemly. So here we have the third iteration of the thunderous Caley wine of Yalumba.
It’s a pretty epic wine. You can’t escape its multi-dimensional feel. Textures, layers of flavour, intensity in that core of fruit, sumptuous and then strict, a wine that carries gravitas by the glass. Regal scents and flavours of mahogany-cedar, fine, new leather, black olive and salt bush, ripe but fresh dark cherry and mixed forest berry fruits. Ripples of luxurious, long, rough silk tannins shape the wine and draw in far, far away. The finish is pert and tightens gradually. It’s a classy, elegant, powerful wine of immediate sense of pedigree. So polished, perhaps missing an edge? I like it now, actually, though I imagine many will fancy blowing the dust of the elaborate decoration boxes in the distance.
93 POINTS
Joe Czerwinski - Robert Parker Wine Advocate
A blend of 82% Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon and 18% Barossa Shiraz, Yalumba's 2014 The Caley leans heavily toward Cabernet on the nose, boasting scents of mint, cassis and cocoa. In the mouth, the Shiraz helps round out the full-bodied palate and lends a velvety edge to the considerable tannins. This third vintage of Yalumba's new flagship is the most approachable yet, finishing with plush richness, great concentration and admirable length.
93 POINTS
Erin Larkin - Robert Parker Wine Advocate
The 2014 The Caley Cabernet & Shiraz comprises 81% Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon and 19% Shiraz from Barossa Valley. On the nose, there is salted licorice, roasted meat crust, pink peppercorns, graphite, charry black spice and loads of dark chocolate. In the mouth, the wine is substantial, bigger than the framing of the 2014 vintage that has previously been painted by the wines on the table today. The impact of the élevage is quite profound here and casts a dark light over the wine. There are notes of toasted walnuts and cracked pistachio, rose attar and tapenade. This has plenty of time left to go. The wine matured for 20 months in 46% new French barriques and hogsheads, with the balance in one-year-old barriques and hogsheads. 14% alcohol, 6.2 total acidity, 3.52 pH, sealed under natural cork.
