Yayoi Wines
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Steffi Snook
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Will and I are always on the look-out for new and local producers. The Victorian viticultural landscape is peppered with freshly established and hardworking winemakers each with their own background, outlook, and approach.
We have a few winemaking friends from whom we are willing to seriously countenance suggestions and directions. When Bridget Mac (Werkstatt) recommended her colleague Steffi Snook (Yayoi Wines) in the context of a conversation on Chenin Blanc, we naturally listened intently and subsequently reached out to Steffi to meet, taste, and discuss her wines.
We were very impressed; of course we trusted Bridget's recommendation but to taste the wines and gain a sense of their severity of purpose and deep understanding of the grapes and sites was its own joy. Steffi is a precise and exacting winemaker. A Central Otago native who escaped hospitality (Rockpool, Vue) to winemaking (Bannockburn (Geelong) and Domaine de Closiers (Saumur)) via a stint in distribution.
All of this of course is by way of background. Her wines as intimated above have such seriousness of purpose and clarity of vision. They transmit, laser-like, an imprint of her processes, vineyards, and varieties. If I seem careful in my notes I am only attempting to do cautious justice to wines that strike me as thoughtful and introspective. These are rare qualities and place her wines well amidst her peers. They come very warmly recommended. - David
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Yayoi Wines
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Yayoi Wines 2023 Swan Hill Chenin Blanc 'Vallee of the Kings'
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Shelf Price: $42.00
Offer: $37.00
An elegant and poised Chenin that avoids the seemingly pharaonic curse that haunts Australian expressions of the varietal: over-ripeness coupled to anonymity. Delicate on first pour, this gains intensity with air to reveal notions of crushed citrus leaf, quinine, smashed rock, and some white orchard fruit; complexity occupies the background with lime pith and flesh providing depth as well as subtle spicy allusions. Light to medium-bodied with soft phenolics and a purity of flavour uncluttered by artifice. Further yellow and green citrus flavours, peach kernel, toasted almond and struck rock lead to a a bracing finish. Fine! - David
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Yayoi Wines 2024 Macedon Ranges Cabernet Franc 'Mon Grand Frere'
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Shelf Price: $64.00
Offer: $56.00
Made with fruit from the famed Glenhope Vineyard (Baynton) the 2024 'Mon Grand Frere' from Yayoi Wines is dark and brooding in the glass. Serious and slightly reticent, aeration brings notes of red and blue fruits, graphite and pencil shavings, cigar wrapper, and campfire ash. The palate is medium-bodied and taut with incisive acidity and youthfully firm tannin. Red and black cherry, some crushed blackberry, pencil lead and mineral ores, and a sneakily long finish with saline touches. The denouement brings out a charming rusticity through nuances of tobacco, a melange of sweet Virginian and smoky Latakia, along with some difficult to describe complexity akin to mossy granite. This will give the claret boys a run for their money. - David
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Autumn Leaves Reds 6-Pack
(RRP: $345.00)
Offer: $295.00 (approx. $49/bottle)
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Joshua Cooper 2024 Central and Western Victoria Claret
Salomon Estate 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon 'Braeside Vineyard'
Alessandro Stefani 2022 Yarra Valley Cabernet Franc 'Franc'
Chateau Blanzac 2018 Castillon Cotes de Bordeaux
Chateau des Laurets 2018 Puisseguin-Saint-Emilion
Chateau Senejac 2020 Haut Medoc
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Riesling Mixed Pack
RRP: $414.00
Offer: $275.00 (approx. $46/bottle)
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Worlds Apart 2023 Eden Valley Riesling 'In the Flowers'
Werkstatt 2024 Mount Gambier Riesling
Frankland Estate 2022 Frankland River Riesling 'Alter Weg'
Donnhoff 2022 Nahe Riesling Trocken
Georg Breuer 2021 Rudesheim Riesling 'Estate'
Christmann 2022 Pfalz Riesling Trocken 'Aus den Lagen'
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If you would like any of the above, would like to come by for a private appointment, or just have some questions please let us know.