“Last year’s release was a huge hit in this book’s ‘best reds under $20 category’ (top place). It’s a newish wine to the Yalumba range, but it’s worth keeping an eye on. As a young wine it opens up quite charry and toasty so splash it round and give it some air if you’re going in early. It has lots of dusty, minty, aniseed fragrance over dark chocolate and mixed berries, and when it hits your mouth you’ll be greeted by a rugged and sandy, yet handsome, set of tannins. We’d call them rustic, hot vintage tannins, but they’re enjoyable nonetheless. It’s a bit of a rough diamond, but it is still a diamond.” POINTS: 91 VALUE: four drops DRINK: 2011 - 2018 Campbell Mattinson & Gary Walsh, The Big Red Wine Book 2010/2011, 1 June 2010
"The Scribbler takes a more savoury and herbal look at this iconic blend and fashions its flavour in a more upright manner than that of the Willunga 100, Hellbent, or The Musician. With a fair degree of tannin, and therefore age-ability, this is a wine which is only starting to show its class now, but it will evolve in time more than the aforementioned trio. There is a good argument for having them all in your cellar though, such is the diversity of black fruit flavours and the detail of oak involved. The Scribbler is a wine which Yalumba has focused on heavily of late and this is fantastically encouraging for us all." Matthew Jukes, The Matthew Jukes 100 Best Australian Wines 2010
"The Scribbler is a younger sibling to the iconic The Signature which each year is made in honour of a Yalumba employee, not necessarily well known, who has given exemplary service to the company. Quality blend of Barossa cabernet sauvignon and shiraz that could be best described as a little brother (or sister) to Yalumba's The Signature. Sweet plum, red and black berry fruit on the nose and palate, spicy characters, nicely balanced oak and juicy tannins." Kerry Skinner, The Illawarra Mercury Weekender (Aus), 15 August 2009
Select parcels were hand picked and crushed to Yalumba’s eight tonne open top stainless steel fermenters. The balance was machine harvested and fermented in static fermenters. The natural or 'wild' yeasts present on the grape skins were allowed to initiate the sugar fermentation. Cultured winery yeasts were then added to complete this process. The result is a wine with excellent depth of colour, richness and complexity.
The Scribbler 2008 is dense crimson purple in colour with a very appealing nose, displaying excellent concentration of dark fruits, spices, liquorice and dark olives. Fresh aromas of violets and lavender are present. The palate is silky and elegant, tasting of sweet blackcurrants and blueberries. The Shiraz is nicely layered within a tightly integrated and beautifully structured Cabernet Sauvignon palate. Ideal to drink now, but will certainly cellar well over the next 5-10 years. Perfect with a game pie on a truffled parmesan and parsnip mash.
