Willy Lun of Yarra Valley’s Yering Station

Yering Station has a history that dates back a long time, back as far as 1838 to be exact when the Scottish-born Ryrie brothers bought the land and named the farm Yering after its Aboriginal name. Thus, Victoria’s first vineyard was born and over time, although changing hands a number of times the winery became a landmark for wine making in Victoria. Now owned by the Rathbone family, it is one of the stand-out wineries in what is proving to be one of Australia’s best wine making regions, the Yarra Valley.

The Yarra Valley is best known for its Chardonnay and Pinot Noir and Yering Station make a series of lovely Chardonnay, made the way Chardonnay should be and very true to the grape. There is a definite sense of terroir to the wines and none of that over extracted, oaky-ness that was the trade mark of so many badly made Chardonnays’ of the past.

We sat down with Yering Station winemaker Willy Lun for a quick taste of four of his wines and a chat about the wines and making wine at Yering Station. Camping out in local interactive wine bar and retail shop Amo Eno, we got talking about Chardonnay, something plagued by the ABC fad of the last decade and something Willy think is well and truly over.

WTHK: Do you have a favourite grape to work with?

WL: “I reckon it would have to be Chardonnay because I love making sparkling wines and it’s probably the most widely planted and most universal grapes but it can either make this beautiful Blanc de Blancs citrusy sparkling wine or it can be that flinty dry Chablis style or like the creamy middle palate wines we made or it can be rich and buttery. They’re all great versions of the one variety. I love drinking it but it’s equally hard to make as it’s reasonably forgiving where it’s growing but it’s equally unforgiving in terms of winemaking”.

WTHK: I read that you’ve made Sparkling wine for The White House in America. Can you tell me more?

WL: “Yeah, I’ve made some for The White House! I’ve always worked in cool climate regions and I was lucky enough to have worked with Bollinger. While I was at Petaluma in the Adelaide Hills, the principal from Bollinger and the principal for Petaluma set up a sparkling facility in Oregon. It was the first high end, cool climate sparkling in the USA; we were kind of pioneers of it in the Willamette valley. The White House chose our Rosé more often than not and as a winemaker it’s pretty cool to see where your wines end up”!

WTHK: How did you enjoy making wine in Oregon? It must have been slightly different from making wine in Australia?

WL: “Absolutely. You know, grew up in the desert and Oregon is the complete opposite with lots of trees and mountains and water. The soils are all completely different and I loved it! It was a new region at the time and everything, like the winemaking style was completely different. From a wine making point of view you just have to adapt to different techniques”.

WTHK: What is it about the Yarra Valley that gets you excited?

WL: “Well, one is that I can live in Melbourne and drive to work every day! That’s nice! No, really, it’s got this historical side to it which shows that early on the pioneers knew it was a great place to grow grapes. There’s still so many untapped sites in the region and these days, rather than people growing what is popular, they’re growing what’s best suited to the site. That’s where the wines get their personality. The best wine I’ve ever made has not even been made yet; you’re always looking for something better and the Yarra can deliver that”.

Yering Station wines are available from Wine N Things in Hong Kong. For more information contact them by e-mail on wine@winenthingshk.com or check out their wines on line at www.winenthingshk.com