2016 Yeringberg Marsanne Roussanne, Yarra Valley

Yeringberg is one of the Yarra Valley's oldest and most historically important estates, a 19th-century pioneer whose renaissance began when third-generation growers Guill and Katherine de Pury started replanting vines in 1969, after the original vineyard had been pulled out decades earlier following a downturn in the British wine market. Their first commercial wine followed in 1974, and since 2008 the estate has been in the hands of fourth-generation siblings Sandra (winemaking) and David (viticulture, with a PhD in plant physiology) de Pury, who continue to farm the site alongside grass-fed lamb and cattle. This blend, roughly 61% Marsanne and 39% Roussanne, comes from a warm, generous 2016 vintage that Sandra and David de Pury are widely regarded as having handled beautifully, and it's often described as an exemplary, benchmark expression of the variety pairing. Critics have praised its combination of power, grace, and length, calling it wonderful and noting it has a higher gear still to reach with further bottle age. Expect a nose that opens somewhat demure before expanding with air into honeysuckle, stone fruit, oak spice, and a savory, meal-like note, with some tasters also finding spicy loquat, dried clove, white pepper, sage, green apple, and even a touch of Camembert-like richness as it develops in the glass. On the palate, it's full-bodied and beautifully layered, taut yet well-rounded, savory and subtly pithy, but also spicy and gently viscous, with intensely flavored pear and peach pith carrying through to a long, spicy finish.