Winemaker Notes
Straw colored; clear and bright. Honeysuckle, sherbet, lemon and lime - flowers, foliage, fruit, and freshly grated peel on the nose. Perfumed with musk and rose petal aromatics; heightened and pure and also exotic. he purity continues on the palate - deep and myriad citrus. Musky and minerally with a green apple and tart pineapple fruit personality. A long, long line of taut acidity pulls the deep fruit flavours ever forward, finishing in a mouth-watering yet dry after- taste. Citrus zest continues to linger long.
Professional Ratings
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Australian Wine Companion
A steely and wonderfully fragrant Eden Valley riesling showing plenty of juicy lime, citrus and grapefruit twang with hints of lemongrass, orange blossom, honeysuckle, rose petal, crushed quartz and finger lime. It sports a ripping tubular palate shape, playing on the tension between fruit and acidity before snapping like a rubber band across the palate all velocity and precision, a rooster tail of lime and blossom in its wake and a savory sigh at the end. Yes.
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Wine Enthusiast
Apple, ginger and lime blossom open this pleasingly aromatic Riesling. The long, lime zest palate comes with a chalky, skeletal dryness and lovely balance of delicate fruits and florals. Drinking deliciously on its own, this would be a knockout with sashimi or crudo.
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.