Awards & Reviews
Sourced from the Old Bamboo Vineyard in Greenock and tended by David Materne, these vines were planted in the 1960s. This is de stemmed whole berries matured in 50% new French oak on lees for 24 months. A pool of blackcurrant, plum and bilberries, with a circle of carob and coffee grinds. Licorice bullets, tanned leather and long pepper. The palate lifts with dancing acidity and some pillowy tufts of soft tannins. Dried bay leaf and oregano add to the crimson hues and the palate is discerningly dry and yet refreshing. This is the kind of wine you order at a restaurant and then continue to reorder till the night is almost through. It’s full of gentility and sophistication. An ideal match for any dry aged steak. Drink now or will cellar for another 5- 8 years further.
95 points Wine Pilot Shanteh Wale
From a 1960’s planted vineyard in Greenock called ‘Old Bamboo’. Puts me in mind of ‘The House of Bamboo’ which featured as a line dancing song in ‘This City Is Ours.’ It’s a hard song to get out of your head! This gets 50% new oak, which is perhaps atypical for this producer, though I’m no expert.
Black fruit, quite a lot of creamy mocha oak, sage, dried mint and seaweed, black olive, cinnamon toast. It’s a plush and luxurious wine, quite silky in the tannin department, though also has a thick silty character, Dutch liquorice, raspberry pie with a spicy crust, a bit earthy too, finishing ripe and long, with a twist of orange peel and tang. Oak rides it a bit too hard at present, though I reckon with a few more years it will settle somewhat, probably. Hard to say.
Rated : 92 Points The Wine Front – Gary Walsh
Classic BVS in many ways. Black plums and black cherries, cherry ripe chocolate, liquorice and pepper. Medium-full on the palate with excellent freshness and drive. Black fruit compote, rich dark chocolate, and subtle baking spice nuances, wonderful tannins, neat ribbons of silty grip, fruit and spice shining in equal measure. Lots to like here. Stick it away for 5 to see it in full throttle.
95/100 pts Drink 2030-2040+ The Cellar Post
Deep crimson. Black cherry, earthy marzipan aromas. Generously
concentrated black cherry marzipan/ cedary flavours, and dense
chocolaty/ velvety textures. Surprisingly minerally at the finish with a graphite plume.
94 Drink now–2036 T H E V I NTAGE J O U RNA L
Sourced from 1960s planted vines in the Barossa sub-region of Greenock, this Limited Cuvée Shiraz elevates the Yelland & Papps brand just that little more. Give this some more time in the cellar and it will be humming.
The longer I sat with this wine, the more I was intrigued by how it would look with some good ageing on its side. And I suspect it will only get better in the long term, should you be able to resist temptation.
Aromas of oyster sauce, chocolate brownie and cola piqued my interest on opening. A loaded basket of dark berries, sweet blueberries, mulberries and sour cherries deliver a wine with presence and neat flow. Medium to full bodied, it’s silky with fine flakes of dark chocolate and succulent soft spices that complement the fruit. Devilishly moreish tannins curl around the mouth urging you to come back for more, and admittedly, it’s hard to refuse. Delicious now but hold.
Drink to ten years+
94/100 Steve Leszczynski Qwine
This comes from a 1960 planted Shiraz vineyard in Greenock. The rich, deep colour points to its power and intensity. But this is a lavish wine with texture and fruit concentration that is perfectly crafted and refined. That combination of basket pressing and gentle extraction, and maturation before going into oak sets the wine up. This one gets a little more new French oak than a lot of the Yelland and Papps wines with 50% in new French oak punctions where it was left for 24 months. But the rich, opulent fruit has absorbed that oak perfectly for a seamless, layered complexity. This is a wine that’s built for some ageing.
96 Wine Pilot Ray Jordan
Not your usual full, rich, sweet-fruited Barossa Shiraz. It walks a different road, one that is savoury with Amaro characters coming into play and offering something quite individual, convincingly so. Sourced off 1960 old vine Shiraz grown in the Greenock sub-region. Aromas of roasted plums, blackberry, earth, leather, black olive, amaro herbal bitters. Its capacity for further ageing is established early with sturdy tannins noted, going hand in hand with a palate at once savoury in leather, deli meats and red earth and generously fruited in ripe black fruits, spice and Amaro bitters.
95 Wine Pilot Jeni Port
Classic BVS in many ways. Black plums and black cherries, cherry ripe chocolate, liquorice and pepper. Medium-full on the palate with excellent freshness and drive. Black fruit compote, rich dark chocolate, and subtle baking spice nuances, wonderful tannins, neat ribbons of silty grip, fruit and spice shining in equal measure. Lots to like here. Stick it away for 5 to see it in full throttle.
95/100 The Cellar Post Edward Ag
Deep, dense, saturated purple colour with a very oaky freshly-sawn timber nose; it smells like a freshly opened barrel. Mocha/coffee. The wine is full-bodied and solid, with abundant drying tannins and chewy density. The tannins coat the mouth and leave a slightly oaky aftertaste. This really begs for time but will probably always be oaky
91/100 The Real Review Huon Hooke
