(Originally published June 2008)

A late night steakhouse meal after a baseball game featured a bottle of Yarra Yering Dry Red Wine No. 1 Yarra Valley. This is a Cabernet Sauvignon blend out of Australia’s Yarra Valley region and one of the country’s most revered and pioneering winemakers, Dr. Bailey Carrodus. (When I visited the region a few years ago, there was much whispering that we might actually get to meet Dr. Carrodus, now in his nineties, but alas it was not to be…)

Anyone who thinks that Australia doesn’t offer terroir simply doesn’t know much about Australian wine. The Yarra Valley is a great example of what cool climate wines can do in Australia, and Yarra Yering may be the ultimate example of a Yarra Valley “first growth.”

When Dr. Carrodus created the estate in 1969, he chose a north-facing hillside, with cooling breezes, significant variation between daytime and nighttime temperatures, and deep, gravely soils with excellent drainage. Careful canopy management and unwavering dry-farming (particularly fortunate now as Australia faces water shortages) has created sturdy vines, and keeping yields low ultimately leads to beautiful concentration in the wine.

Since 1997, winemaker Mark Haisma carries on Dr. Carrodus’ vision, continuing to create cellar-worthy wines with finesse and depth. The Yarra Yering 2003 Dry Red Wine No. 1 Yarra Valley ($75 suggested retail, significantly more at a steakhouse…) is mostly Cabernet Sauvignon, with Merlot, Malbec, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot making up the blend. It offers delicate pencil shavings and mineral accents to the elegant blackberry and currant fruit, with smoke and pretty Bordeaux-like balance and long finish. Delicious now and over the next seven or eight years. Locate this wine online or in your area.