Australia · Yarra Valley

Yarra Yering Vineyards

A dry-grown Gruyere estate in the Yarra Valley, founded in 1969 and known for its numbered blended red wines.

The producer

Dr Bailey Carrodus founded Yarra Yering in 1969 after choosing a north-facing Gruyere site with ancient, well-drained soils. The estate describes 29 hectares of dry-grown vines at 4 Briarty Road in the Yarra Valley, on Wurundjeri Country. Its first commercial vintage followed in 1973, linking the wines to a vineyard selected by a founder trained in viticulture and plant physiology.

Sarah Crowe joined as winemaker in late 2013. The documented 2023 range includes Dry Red Wine No. 1, shaped by fruit, spice, acidity and tannin, and Dry Red Wine No. 2, whose aroma, palate weight, tannin and finish are framed in part by French-oak maturation. Together, the wines offer two distinct blended-red expressions from the same dry-grown site.

Known for

Dry-grown Yarra Valley blended reds, including Dry Red Wine No. 1 and No. 2.

Notable facts

The story

The 1973 first vintage

In 1973, Yarra Yering made its first commercial vintage. Four years earlier, Dr Bailey Carrodus had established the estate after selecting a north-facing site at Gruyere with ancient, well-drained soils. Carrodus brought experience in viticulture and plant physiology to the planting, and the wine came from vines on the property he had chosen rather than from a separate grape source. A regional profile describes the 1973 release as the Yarra Valley’s first commercial vintage since 1921. It preceded the decades of Dry Red releases that followed, as well as the later chapter that began when Sarah Crowe joined the estate as winemaker in 2013.

From the atlas

Yarra Yering Vineyards

At A Glance

Yarra Yering Vineyards began in 1969 at Gruyere in Victoria’s Yarra Valley. Dr Bailey Carrodus chose the north-facing site, and the estate describes its holding as 29 hectares of dry-grown vines on ancient, well-drained soils. Its first commercial vintage arrived in 1973; today, the 2023 Dry Red Wine No. 1 and No. 2 show two different blended-red routes through the same estate.

The Producer

Yarra Yering sits at 4 Briarty Road, Gruyere, on Wurundjeri Country. Carrodus brought training in viticulture and plant physiology when he founded the estate, so the vineyard was central from the outset rather than simply a source of grapes for a cellar elsewhere. That founding choice still frames the wines: the Dry Red labels begin with a dry-grown Yarra Valley site, then separate in blend, maturation and shape in the glass.

Place

Gruyere is the Yarra Valley location named on Yarra Yering’s address, and it is where Carrodus chose a north-facing position for the vines. A north-facing site receives the sun directly, a practical advantage for ripening grapes, while the estate’s dry-grown model leaves rainfall and the vineyard ground closely connected to the crop. The result is not a generic Victorian red: each Dry Red begins with fruit from this single Gruyere holding.

Soil And Site

The site’s ancient, well-drained soils were part of Carrodus’s original selection. Drainage matters in a vineyard because excess water can move away from the root zone; combined with dry growing, it makes the ground and season material parts of the estate’s work. Yarra Yering does not need an invented geological tale to make that clear. The physical facts are enough: sun-facing vines, old soils, drainage, and 29 hectares without irrigation.

Story

Carrodus founded Yarra Yering in 1969, then made its first commercial vintage in 1973. His stated approach favoured minimal intervention and letting the wines speak for themselves, an approach that places weight on the vineyard’s fruit before cellar handling. After his death in 2008, the estate continued under new ownership. Sarah Crowe joined as winemaker in late 2013, adding a later chapter to a property whose name is still tied to its founder’s site choice and early Dry Red tradition.

Crowe’s period has brought documented industry recognition, including the 2021 Gourmet Traveller Wine award and Yarra Yering’s 2022 Halliday Wine Companion honours. Those notices are not a substitute for tasting the bottles. They do, however, locate the current winemaking chapter after the ownership transition, with the 2023 Dry Reds providing a tangible way to meet it.

Vineyards And Cellar

The estate describes 29 hectares of vines as dry-grown. That farming fact makes vine, soil and seasonal water supply part of the same conversation, rather than treating the vineyard as a neutral backdrop. Carrodus’s minimal-intervention philosophy supplies the historical cellar frame: the aim was to allow the fruit to carry the wine rather than disguise it with unnecessary handling.

The documented cellar detail is more specific for Dry Red Wine No. 2 than for the whole range. Its French-oak maturation belongs to that bottle, not automatically to every Yarra Yering release. Oak time can add texture and spice-like savoury notes while giving tannin a broader frame; in No. 2, it sits alongside a stated profile of aroma, weight, tannin and finish.

Wines

The current documented range centres here on two 2023 blended reds: Dry Red Wine No. 1 and Dry Red Wine No. 2. They are not interchangeable numbered labels. No. 1’s published material brings fruit and spice together with acidity and tannin, then notes capacity for ageing. Its role is structural as much as aromatic: fruit is carried by acid, tannin supplies grip, and the wine is built to change over time.

No. 2 has a separate blend and a different stated profile, with aromatic detail, palate weight, finish and tannin at the fore. Its French-oak maturation adds a distinct cellar element to that architecture. Taken together, the two wines show a range built through blend and handling: No. 1 focuses on fruit, spice and ageing frame; No. 2 develops aroma, weight and an oak-shaped tannin line.

In The Glass

With Dry Red Wine No. 1, begin with the fruit and spice noted for the 2023 release, then look for the way acidity moves the palate forward. Tannin follows as grip rather than decoration, giving the wine body and a finish that does not simply fade after the first impression. The ageing note matters because it points to a red whose fruit and structure are intended to remain in conversation after release.

Dry Red Wine No. 2 offers a different sequence. Aroma arrives first, then the wine’s documented weight fills the palate before tannin gathers through the finish. French oak belongs in that texture, adding another layer around the fruit rather than a claim about every wine the estate makes. The contrast is useful: one red is described through fruit, spice, acidity and ageing; the other through aroma, weight, tannin and finish.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with the 2023 Dry Red Wine No. 1. Its published profile puts fruit and spice beside acidity, tannin and ageing character, so the bottle makes its parts easy to follow without reducing it to a simple fruit-forward red. On the palate, look for fruit meeting spice, then for acidity to keep the wine moving while tannin provides grip and shape. It comes first because its stated profile joins aroma, structure and development in one glass.

Anecdote

In 1973, Yarra Yering made its first commercial vintage. The event followed four years after Dr Bailey Carrodus established the estate in 1969 and selected the north-facing Gruyere site with its ancient, well-drained soils. A regional profile describes that 1973 release as the Yarra Valley’s first commercial vintage since 1921. The wine came from the vines Carrodus had planted on the site he had chosen, before the estate had decades of releases or a later winemaking chapter under Sarah Crowe. The date remains fixed in the estate’s history: 1973, Yarra Yering’s first commercial vintage.

Final Word

Yarra Yering is most clearly met through its physical starting point: dry-grown vines at Gruyere, on the north-facing, well-drained site selected in 1969. From there, the two 2023 Dry Reds divide the work into different blends and different structures. Open No. 1 first, then use No. 2 to follow how aroma, oak, weight and tannin alter the conversation.

Sources

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