Yarra Valley (8) Luke Lambert
Website: https://www.lukelambertwines.com.au/
Luke makes wine from the northern part of the Yarra where the soils are granite with granitic sand. For these wines the source is a single vineyard, Denton View Hill, near Yarra Glen. All the wines are raised in neutral large format oak, and winemaking is low intervention.
Luke comes from Brisbane, but his love for wine was developed with the help of trips to France and Italy, before he enrolled in a wine science degree at Charles Sturt University. He began making wine as a garagiste, and he’s kept that ethos as his project has grown.
More recently, he’s purchased land and planted his own Nebbiolo vineyard, Sparkletown, with a range of clones. The vineyard is north of Yarra Glen and it’s a steep, 1.6 hectare plot, planted in 2019. The first wines from this have yet to be released. He’s also planning to release a series of Nebbiolo wines from other regions in Victoria.
These are very exciting wines.
Luke Lambert Chardonnay 2021 Yarra Valley, Australia
Lively, pure and intense with good energy. There’s a pithy core to the sweet fruit. 94/100
Luke Lambert Syrah 2023 Yarra Valley, Australia
80% whole bunch, but put through a destemmer without the cage to crush the bunches a bit. You can see the granite soil expressed here. Floral and expressive with lovely blackberries, black cherries and plums. Vivid and peppery with lovely density. 95/100
Luke Lambert Nebbiolo 2022 Yarra Valley, Australia
Juicy, vital and linear with lovely raspberry fruit and some red cherry. Has nice brightness and great balance with good structure and acidity, as well as pure fruit. An amazing expression of Nebbiolo that’s so well balanced. 95/100
Older note:
Luke Lambert Nebbiolo 2012 Yarra Valley, Australia
13.5% alcohol. Luke has experience working in Piedmont, and it shows in this wine. It comes from two vineyards: the highland Jansz vineyard at St Andrews, with very rocky soils, and the granitic Denton vineyard. It was kept on skins for 40 days, and matured in old, large format oak. Wild yeast fermentation, no filtration or fining. This is a beautiful expression of Nebbiolo. Cherry red in colour with a hint of bricking (typical of the variety), it has fresh, focused aromatics of red cherries, plums and spice. There is real finesse here. The palate is fresh and focused with really grippy tannins (again, typical of the variety) under the pure red cherry fruit, with subtle touches of herbs and citrus peel. Very pure and linear, this is a sensational interpretation of this grape, combining sternness with beauty. 95/100 (April 2015)
YARRA VALLEY
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Oakridge
- 3 Tarrawarra
- 4 Jayden Ong Wines
- 5 Yarra Yering
- 6 Mac Forbes
- 7 Timo Meyer
- 8 Luke Lambert
- 9 Rob Dolan
- 10 Bobar with Tom Belford
- 11 Giant Steps
- 12 Other Yarra wines tasted
