I’m not a collector of much sparkling wine other than the occasional sparkling red, usually from Seppelt, Rockford, Leasingham or Boynton’s. That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy quality Champagne with some maturity. Wherever I can, I show neither mercy nor sympathy to an opened bottle of 1990 Pol Roger or Bollinger, and I’m quite excited by some of the better 1995s coming onto the market. All of which might explain why I’m so pleasantly surprised to have a glass of Yarrabank Cuvee 1995 within millimetres of this keyboard. Made in part by Claude Thibaut from Champagne Devaux, it’s a youthful and stylish wine of elegance and freshness, revelling in its earthy, mushroomy development, its bright core of intense cherry and raspberry fruit, its length and its racy acidity. Here’s a wine I frankly thought would be past it by now, but which is still handsomely flaunting its best, looking as silky and creamy and finishing as chalky and austere as some of the better 1995 Champagnes. For the record, it’s 54% pinot noir, 46% chardonnay and 65% Yarra Valley, 35% Mornington Peninsula, with 8.3% reserve from 1994 and 4.2% reserve from 1993. The only really, frankly, awful, terrible thing about opening this bottle was that it was the last one in my possession. But you might already have guessed that!
