Yalumba The Signature Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz 1500ml 2023

96 POINTS

Ken Gargett - Winepilot

We might be yet to learn who is to be honoured with the 2023 Signature, but whomsoever it is should be well pleased. This is a cracking release, one of their best. An opaque centre with a dark maroon rim, there is still vanillin oak evident on the nose, but it is integrating well. The aromas include notes of dried herbs, black fruits, graphite, licorice, mocha, chocolate, plums and cassis. This is balanced, youthful, offering real persistence and coiled power. The palate sees the move to gorgeous chocolate notes. A wine with serious length, there is much to love here.

96 POINTS

Dave Brookes - Halliday Wine Companion

Yalumba's iconic blend sees 55/45% cabernet sauvignon/shiraz with the '23 release. Again, the release impresses with its fruit purity, elegance and cellaring potential. Deep blackberry, satsuma plum and black cherry fruit with underlying layers of brown spice, cedar, tobacco, pencil case, roast meats, dried herbs and black olive tapenade. Beautifully composed on the palate with a firm yet kinetic, fine-grained tannin structure, lacy acidity and a finish that sails on gracefully for ages. A cracking release.

95 POINTS

Campbell Mattinson - The Wine Front

This is a particularly good example of why cabernet and shiraz go so well together. Apart from structure and flesh, the combination of dark and red berry flavours, fruit sweetness and leafy herb notes, are just so complementary. This wine is the perfect exhibit: the fruit is fresh and flavoursome at once, not to mention of noteworthy purity. There’s cedarwood oak here too, but its integration is entire, and it has latched on to nuances of tobacco. Yalumba’s Signature pretty much never misses, and this release certainly hasn’t. Fruit, tannin, length and all-round harmony; all are in top nick.

94 POINTS

Tom Kline - Winepilot

The quintessential Australian blend shows its worth nicely here. Plum, redcurrant, sandalwood, black pepper and blackberry lead the charge. With air, graphite and bay leaf emerge, along with black olive and allusions of grilled meat. The palate is full-bodied but still lifted and somewhat cool in feel. Meat, black olive, plum, dried herbs, blackberry and sandalwood again. There’s some mintiness to the acidity and lovely architectural structure through the finish. A strong 2023 release, and one that will do well with eight years or more in the cellar.