Craneford Eden Valley Riesling 2000
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Winemaker Notes
Stony, lemon lime-like aromas and flavors are found inthe light to medium-bodied, fresh, dry Riesling. Drink thisimpressive Australian white over the next 1-2 years.
Other Vintages
2001-
Parker
Robert -
Spirits
Wine &
In mid 2006, Carol Riebke was appointed as winemaker with John Glaetzer overseeing. John is a winner of four Jimmy Watson Trophy's during his extensive career as chief red wine maker at Wolf Blass Wines. As a team, Carol and John ensure that premium quality wine making remains the focus at Craneford Wines.
Fruit parcels from our growers are independently processed during the winemaking process. This maintains the unique character of each vineyard. Final blends are made only after the wines have been individually tasted and analysed to ensure that they show classic Barossa Valley flavours as well as being complex and well balanced. Craneford’s aim is to continually produce the highest quality wine from the best Barossa Valley fruit available.
Riesling possesses a remarkable ability to reflect the character of wherever it is grown while still maintaining its identity. A regal variety of incredible purity and precision, this versatile grape can be just as enjoyable dry or sweet, young or old, still or sparkling and can age longer than nearly any other white variety. Somm Secret—Given how difficult it is to discern the level of sweetness in a Riesling from the label, here are some clues to find the dry ones. First, look for the world “trocken.” (“Halbtrocken” or “feinherb” mean off-dry.) Also a higher abv usually indicates a drier Riesling.
Higher in elevation and topographically more dramatic than the Barossa Valley floor, Eden Valley abuts it to its south and east. While it is a bit of an extension of Barossa, Eden Valley is topographically different than the pastoral Barossa Valley, and is composed of rocky hills and eucalyptus groves.
Recognizing Eden Valley’s potential with Riesling in the 1960s and 70s, producers started to move their Riesling production from Barossa to these better sites where schist soils on hilltops would produce more steely, tart and age-worthy examples. A most famous site, planted by Colin Gramp, called Steingarten, today produces one of the most outstanding Australian Rieslings. Youthful Eden Valley Rieslings express floral, grapefruit and mineral, while with time in the bottle, they become increasingly toasty and complex.
Riesling isn’t the only grape the region can grow; undeniably at lower altitudes Shiraz does very well. Mount Edelstone is a notable vineyard as well as the Hill of Grace, which boasts healthy Shiraz vines well over 100 years old. This is the only Australian region where Merlot has a made a name for itself and Chardonnay can be spectacular, particularly from the High Eden subregion in the southern valley.