Kevin’s visit to Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch was a focus on the release of Yalumba The Signature, Cabernet Sauvignon & Shiraz 2014. The 56^th release of Yalumba The Signature honours Chris Greening who commenced work in 1989 as Sales Manager for S. Smith & Son and rose to State Manager before retiring in 2017. Previous signatories have included fifth generation vigneron and Chairman of the Yalumba Board, Robert Hill-Smith (2012), as well as Jane Ferrari (2010) who regularly visits New Zealand as a Yalumba Ambassador and Clive Weston (2009), Managing Director for Negociants New Zealand.

Kevin conducted trade tastings during his visit, including a Signature vertical tasting at Soul in Auckland of six vintages – 2006/2008/2012/2013/2014 – which provided a wonderful opportunity to taste some rare older vintages. The tasting highlighted the consistently exceptional quality and longevity of this iconic wine. Kevin had a packed schedule which also included evening consumer tastings at Vino Fino, First Glass Wines and Glengarry Wines Victoria Park.

This wine is only made in exceptional years and is named after Fred Caley, the grandson of Yalumba founder, Samuel Smith. Fred Caley spent 18 months trekking across the world in the early 1890s, observing and reporting on scientific and horticultural developments as well as the many adventures he had along the way. The journey of Yalumba The Caley is discussed in this video.

Jane also did a vertical comparison tasting of Yalumba The Signature Cabernet Sauvignon & Shiraz at The Fine Wine Delivery Company in Auckland and ended her visit with a corporate business lunch “Yalumba The Professionals” for 250 at The Cordis Hotel. Jane was a guest speaker at the lunch and introduced the wines on arrival and those matched to each of the four courses, as well as entertaining the crowd with some storytelling. Sir Graham Henry also spoke during the lunch on the upcoming 2019 Rugby World Cup, so it was an excellent event with a mix of great wine and rugby which was thoroughly enjoyed by all who attended.

Other highlights from Yalumba included receiving the Family Business Award of Excellence at the 2018 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards held in Sydney.

In February 2019, the new Yalumba logo was officially launched and in March 2019, Yalumba launched the Samuel’s Collection range of premium wines.

Samuel’s Collection wines available from Negociants New Zealand:

• Yalumba Samuel’s Collection Eden Valley Viognier 2017
• Yalumba Samuel’s Collection Barossa Bush Vine Grenache 2018
• Yalumba Samuel’s Collection Barossa Grenache Shiraz Mataro 2017
• Yalumba Samuel’s Collection Barossa Shiraz 2017
• Yalumba Barossa Samuel’s Collection Shiraz Cabernet 2017

Samuel’s Collection celebrates the legacy established by Samuel Smith 170 years ago when he planted some of Australia’s first grape vines in the Barossa. The wines in this collection represent the varietals that the Barossa is known and loved for, together with the Yalumba winemaking thumbprint that has been refined over 170 years of winemaking.

Samuel’s Collection are the first wines to feature the new Yalumba Clocktower iconography which will now be present across all Yalumba brand material.

All Samuel’s Collection wines are sustainably grown and vegan friendly.

I will leave you with a video from Louisa Rose, Chief Winemaker for Yalumba on the Yalumba Samuel’s Collection Barossa Shiraz which she describes as one of the heroes of the Samuel’s Collection.