Yangarra 2023 releases and the endless quest for deliciousness

Like many Aussies in July, we’re seaside on an Indonesian island this week for a long-overdue winter escape. This is a very good thing, although it also means much less wine is drunk (the 1ltr per person customs limit and 170% import tax tends to deter that) and replaced with much more piña coladas.

It’s also a time when I sit by the pool and think about the big issues – and today, it is about deliciousness.

Pure, naked deliciousness in a modern world, where wine is competing (and often losing) the battle for beverage of choice, is something that needs to be talked about more.

It’s particularly pertinent because I think making wine more than just a simple alcoholic fruit drink – the quest for structure, weight, intensity, etc, can actually deliver less deliciousness. Powerful tannins, taut acidity, spice and meaty savouriness are all things valued in fine wine but might make wine in general less approachable in the process.

What’s even worse is when inexpensive wines are not approachable and delicious either, which means wine is failing its ‘tasty beverage’ purpose altogether.

As I sit here staring at drinks lists dominated by fruity cocktails and easy-drinking lager, I also keep thinking about how the wine industry tends to look down upon some of the wines that can be accessibly delicious – like moscato, chilled/lightly sweet reds and rosé. That’s despite these simply refreshing drinks sitting closer to what normal, non-wine-obsessed people might enjoy drinking.

Admittedly, I’m not exactly innocent here, running a review site that focuses almost exclusively on premium wines. But you won’t hear me shitting on someone’s choice to drink hot pink, white Zinfandel because at least they’re drinking wine.

Returning to the theme of deliciousness, I also want to discuss some wines that are not only fancy but genuinely delicious.

Enter a trio of superb new 2023 Yangarra reds.

I opened these right before I got on the plane and immediately thought, ‘These are delicious wines’. That’s it. They’re very tasty beverages with a joyful energy and vibrancy that I think even non-wine people can appreciate, even if they don’t give a shit about the higher level detail that makes an occasional $300+ pricetag justifiable.

This is what wine is all about (and also why Australian Grenache is a wonderful thing).

For balance, I’ve also included the rest of the Yangarra 2023 releases below, though they’re not necessarily easy drinks either – instead, they’re provocative wines to remind us that this isn’t a black-and-white argument either.

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