Toast to a wine venture

By Kath Gannaway
WINE journalists from around Australia and from New Zealand took part in a special ‘anniversary’ workshop at Yering Station recently.
The workshop marked the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Yarrabank Joint Venture by one of the Yarra Valley’s premier wineries, Yering Station, and France’s famous Champagne Devaux.
The event, held in the historic barn at Yering Station was hosted by the Yering Station team, including owner/directors, Doug, Matthew and Darren Rathbone and winemaker Tom Carson, and Champagne Devaux’s president, Laurent Gillet and winemaker, Michel Parisot.
The partnership was, in a way, a ‘right place, right time’ story for both organisations.
In 1996 Champagne Devaux was looking to launch Devaux in the Australasian market. The Rathbone family had recently purchased Yering Station.
The French company had undertaken three trial vintages in the Yarra Valley and, seeing the enormous potential, were looking for a technical partner for the soon to be named ‘Yarrabank’.
“We were searching for a Victorian winery with the same long-term commitment to quality and with no potential conflict of interest,” Mr Gillet explained.
“A condition of the partnership was that the partner would never produce a sparkling wine under their own brand.”
For Yering Station the partnership was an exceptional opportunity to set in motion the momentum for Yering Station’s future plans.
“Launching a brand-new, highly anticipated wine (Yarrabank Cuvee No.1 1993) into the marketplace in 1996, so soon after the acquisition of Yering Station, gave the market a taste of our long-term strategy and commitment – not only for Yarrabank but for the broader Yering Station portfolio,” Mr Rathbone said.
While annual trips to Devaux have been an important part of the project for the Yering Station winemaking and vineyard teams, the milestone 10-year mark was an appropriate time to reflect on the challenges and achievements.
Technical director, Darren Rathbone said sourcing grapes was one of the greatest challenges in the early years – especially as the fruit is picked by hand.
Another was building the new state-of-the-art winery in time for the 1997 vintage. Digging started in November 1996.
“It was an unbelievable achievement,” Mr Rathbone said.
Ten years on, Yarrabank has the approval of Champagne Devaux winemaker, Michel Parisot who describes the longevity and consistency of the wine as “truly exciting”.
“The signature style, set by Claude (winemaker Claude Thibaut) from the very first vintage in 1993 has stood the test of time,” he said.
Mr Gillet told the Mail the 10-year anniversary was also a good time to assess the success of the partnership. And, there is no doubt he regards it as a success story.
“Sparkling wine is a long-term operation because it is both cash and time demanding to build stock, to be sure of securing grape sources and to put capital in for equipment.
“I think it is something which needs five or six years to show results and 10 years is a good time to be sure success is steady and something which we can reproduce,” Mr Gillet said.
He is as pleased with the partnership on a personal level, as he is with the wine.
“We use the maximum of experience exchange between France and Australia so the Yarrabank wine is the result of the collaboration of the wine-making techniques and expertise of Tom Carson (Yering Station’s winemaker) and Michel Parisot.
“The very close and friendly relationship we have with all the Rathbone family is another of the key factors for the success of Yarrabank,” he said.