SHIRAZ OF THE YEAR and RED WINE OF THE YEAR. Score awarded by the Halliday tasting panel at the annual Awards judging. PR writes: A blend of 96/1/2/1% shiraz/viognier/marsanne/mataro. Fermented with whole berries and matured in barriques (25% new). A brilliant crimson red. In fact, a brilliant Dry Red Wine No. 2. There's a little reduction when first poured but it doesn't take long for this to reveal a complex amalgam of red and black fruits, iodine, graphite and melted, dark licorice. Fleshier and more refined and seductive than last year's version. Incredibly svelte tannins. Supremely balanced. I reckon Yarra Yering's founder, Dr Bailey Carrodus, would be chuffed with this. – 99pts, James Halliday Wine Companion

Good deep, bright colour with nutmeg/spice and a whiff of oak in the bouquet. It's young and has what it takes to age well. The wine is deep in dark berry fruits, firmed up by taut tannins and acidity. Young and bold yet also elegant, with a bright future. Ideally it needs a bit more time. – 96pts, Huon Hooke for The Real Review

The vines date back to 1969, though there were also plantings in the 1980s and 1990s. It’s a blend of 96% Shiraz, 2% Marsanne, 1.5% Mataro and 0.5% Viognier. I’m going to pull the winemaking specs direct from the Yarra Yering website, because they’re interesting. “Fruit was hand-picked, transferred across a sorting table and destemmed directly to the Yarra Yering half-tonne open-fermenters. As much whole berry as possible is retained to encourage perfume. A small portion of fermenters had frozen Viognier skins; tiny yields this year, added to the bottom. A few more enjoy the inclusion of Marsanne bunches. The wine was aged for 15 months in French oak barriques, 25% new.” This wine takes cool and warm climate shiraz styles and straddles them perfectly. It’s a wine that will please shiraz lovers far and wide. It’s spicy, peppery and fractionally reductive but then it’s also a swoon of cherry plum, peppercorn and red licorice fruit flavour. Some rivers are bright and fast; others are deep and slow. This wine is both. Logs of cedarwood are dipped, deftly, into the flow, in support, in complement. It has to be said that the balance, here, is masterful. – 95pts, Campbell Mattinson for Wine Front

• Red Wine of the Year, 2025 Halliday Wine Companion
• Award Winning Varietal (Shiraz), 2025 Halliday Wine Companion
• The Angelo Puglisi Grand Champion Wine of Show, 2024 Royal Queensland Wine Awards