The 2023 vintage proved another excellent season for Luke Lambert and Rosalind Hall. Much like the preceding two years, La Niña’s cool theme has translated to elegant, aromatic and vibrant wines with immediate charm. “They’re perfumed with great acidity and structure and wonderful with food,” says Luke on the wines. “If you like classically styled Yarra Valley wines, the 2023s are going to make you very happy.”This year, Luke and Rosalind are releasing their first Shiraz from the Martingale vineyard in Gruyere. Located just behind Coldstream Hills, it is owned and farmed by their friend Chris Kennedy. Without naming names, the fruit finds its way into some of the region's more prestigious bottlings. A big drawcard was a Shiraz clone Luke was keen to work with again—full details can be found in the note—but in short, you can expect a seriously good Crudo Shiraz to go alongside the flat-out delicious Chardonnay and rosé. On a side note, Luke’s name came up in a conversation recently with Pax Mahle, the doyen of Californian Syrah. Known for his reverence of the great wines of the northern Rhône, he told us of his recent delight when a beautiful blind-tasted wine picked as Côte-Rôtie turned out to be the layered, mineral, cool and spicy handiwork of our man in the Yarra. Happily, we still have some of Luke's 2022 Syrah in stock if you'd like to repeat this trick in your own tasting (you'll find that below after the Crudos).