Reviews of our wines
Australian Wine Companion 2019
by James Halliday
Tarrahill Le Savant Cabernets 2016
Includes 2% shiraz, matured in french oak (25% new) for 12 months. Densely coloured, comes from the same school as the Shiraz with its densely packed fruit flavours and ripe tannins joining hands on the long,even, velvety palette. Thisis natural fruit, not extracted. A unique wine in the context of the Yarra Valley, but has to have time - 10+ years. 13.8%alc. Rating 96 To 2046
Tarrahill Shiraz 2016
The inky depths of the colour, of the smoking bouquet,the endless layers of the omnibus of black fruits,liquorice, the voluminous but soft folds of tannin are exceptional. you need to give it a bare minimum of 20 years to lose its puppy fat, another decade for its adolescence and then you will have 30 years to enjoy the mature wine that awaits. Buy some for your grand- or god, and hope to nick a glass when they aren’t looking. 14.2%alc. Rating 97 To 2078
WINEFRONT
Tarrahill Le Savant Cabernets 2016
Mostly made with Yarra Valley cabernet sauvignon but with a small inclusion of shiraz. This is Tarrahill’s flagship release, in terms of its internal hierarchy.
Interesting wine. Mid weight at most, the flavours painted as much with water- as oil-based paints, so to speak. Boysenberry, light blackcurrant, cocoa and bay leaves. Tannin is about as emery-board fine as can be, though it creeps up on you as the wine breathes. Herbal notes hover like low-flying drones. Come back in five or more years.
Rated : 92+ Points
Tarrahill Shiraz 2015
Yarra Valley shiraz with a bit more grunt than usual.
There’s spice here and indeed complexity but it’s hard to go past the fruit. The centre here is sweet and rich, plums and redcurrant, which gives it a generous, full-bodied feel. Or certainly full-bodied in a Yarra Valley shiraz context. Meat, cloves, anise, tobacco, florals, molasses; all make appearances here. The edges dance with flavour. Tannin accordingly is ripe, there’s some warmth, but the finish remains full of running.
Rated : 92 Points
Unlike many of these blends, which essentially taste like beefier versions of pinot noir, you’d be doing well to pick this as 80% pinot noir. There’s some tang and sweet-spice notes, florals too, but it essentially tastes like a savoury-styled dry red, the texture silken, the tannin fine-grained, the length assured. This isn’t a bad thing because the other truth here is that this is a lovely wine, everything carefully placed, an impression of intricacy. Those sweet spice notes. That rush of fresh mid-weight flavour. It’s good now. It will mature well too.
Rated : 92+ Points
2017 Melbourne International Wine Competition
Tarrahill. Pinot Noir 2014 won gold in the $30 and above class.
Tarrahill was awarded Yarra Valley Pinot Noir Winery of the Year
Australian Wine Companion 2018
by James Halliday
Tarrahill. Shiraz 2015
RATING 94
27yo vines, hand-picked, crushed/destemmed, fermented in tank with cultured yeast, 16 days on skins, matured in French oak (25% new) for 14 months. Strikingly deep, almost opaque, crimson-purple hue doesn't deceive: this full-bodied shiraz has a kaleidoscope of blackberry, black cherry, licorice, tar and spice aromas and flavours, oak and tannins also doing their duty. The one thing the wine cries out for is a minimum of 5 years, preferably 10, in the cellar.
Australian Wine Companion 2017
by James Halliday
(In the 2017 edition of the Australian wine Companion, Tarrahill was awarded 5 Red Stars reflecting Tarrahill's 3 consecutive years of at least 2 wines rating 94 points or more. Next is to get a red name as well as 5 red stars which requires us to be consistently excellent for a long time - we're working on it!)
Tarrahill. Cabernet Sauvignon 2014
RATING 97
Includes 15% shiraz, matured in Francois Freres French oak (30% new). This is the mirror image of the Shiraz, a wine of immense distinction driven by the quality and style of the cabernet fruit. I cannot evaluate the impact of the shiraz, not being present at the blending trials (or any other time), but this is the epitome of Yarra Valley cabernet.
Tarrahill. Shiraz 2014
RATING 95
Includes 15% cabernet sauvignon, matured in Francois Freres French oak (30% new). Relatively light, but vivid, crimson-purple; the highly fragrant bouquet lights the way for a light to medium-bodied palate that tastes and feels like 13%, not 14.2%; it has vibrantly fresh red fruits, fine tannins and good oak integration. The cabernet has not pulled the rug from under the feet of the shiraz.
Tarrahill. Pinot Noir 2014*
RATING 94
Pinot noir is forever laying traps for both the wary and unwary. This has riper fruit flavours, yet its alcohol is significantly less than its 2013 sibling, with juicy, plummy fruit to the fore, the oak correspondingly less obvious.
Tarrahill. Pinot Noir 2013*
RATING 94
Some early colour development is evident in a wine with both flavour and textural complexity, this in turn reflecting the use of 40% new Mecurey barrels. I don't want to nitpick, but I'd like to see less oak and/or more fruit evident, regardless of the (high)hedonism factor.
*Winemaker's note - I believe the descriptions of the 2013 and 2014 Pinots as published in the Australian Wine Companion 2017 are back to front, so I have reversed them here. Both wines received 94 points.
Tarrahill. Cabernet Sauvignon 2013
RATING 94
Elegant medium-bodied, cassis-driven: fine, supple tannins, integrated oak, good length. Simply not in the same class as the Olympian 2014.
Australian Wine Companion 2016
by James Halliday
Tarrahill. Le Batard 2012
Blend of (mostly) pinot noir with input from shiraz and cabernet sauvignon. The input from the latter two makes the pinot noir almost seem like a distant memory. This is meaty but plush, floral but awash with dark berried fruit. Toasty, cedary oak is on the march too, its spicier notes forming an enchanting double-act with the wine's meatier notes. We have both a wine and a producer here of real character and, potentially, of great note.
Rated : 96 Points
Winefront Review
by Campbell Mattinson
Tarrahill Chardonnay 2011
Well, what to make of this Yarra Valley chardonnay from little-known producer Tarrahill?
For starters, it’s complex. There’s nothing airy fairy or dumbed-down about this. From the first to the last it makes you slow down and contemplate exactly what’s going on here. It’s different, is what I mean. It’s lemony and lactic and smooth and razor-sharp at once. I’m not sure that everything is meshed as one but then, that’s it, I’m not sure. It has struck match complexity but white peach and floral notes too; it’s slender but deceptively strong-willed. The most apt thing I can say is: I could sit on this wine and ruminate on it for hours, and would love to have it as a guest at my dinner table.
Rated : 94 Points
Australian Wine Companion 2015
by James Halliday
James Halliday’s Australian Wine Companion 2015 has been released and includes a new winery – Tarrahill!
Tarrahill. has been given a 5 star rating and included in Halliday’s list of Best Wineries of the Region for the Yarra Valley.
Our first wines, released last November, received the following reviews from Halliday:
Tarrahill Chardonnay 2010
Still as fresh as a daisy, remarkably pale colour, but with an utterly seductive mouthfeel, and perfect varietal expression, white flowers/stone fruit and grapefruit in equal balance; you know oak is there, but it is not obvious.
Rating 95
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Shiraz 2010
Clear and bright crimson-purple; a perfect example of the freshness and elegance that can be achieved at a (relatively) low alcohol without any downside; the red fruit flavours have no hint of mint or green characters, and the palate is long and silky smooth.
Rating 94
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Cabernet Sauvignon 2010
Rating 88
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The Cabernet and the Shiraz both received Silver at the International Cool Climate Wine Show 2014.