Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The winery has always excelled with Riesling from the Clare Valley. The 2009 Mort’s Block Riesling is light straw-colored with a splendid nose of mineral, spring flowers, lemon-lime and other citrus aromas that jump from the glass. Just off-dry (1.4g/L RS), it is reminiscent of a high quality Mosel Kabinett. It will evolve for 5-6 years and drink well through 2021.
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Wine & Spirits
2009 Clare Valley Mort's Block Watervale Riesling This Watervale riesling has a richness of texture, along with complex scents of orange blossom, lime, lemongrass and honey. The flavors come in layers across the palate, clean and mouthwatering. For Cantonese seafood dishes, such as clams with black bean sauce.
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Wine Spectator
Tight, bright and refreshing for its lime-scented apple and floral flavors that don't quit on the zingy finish. Drink now through 2019. 500 cases imported.
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.
The Clare Valley is actually a series of narrow north to south valleys, each with a different soil type and slightly different weather patterns along their stretch. In the southern heartland between Watervale and Auburn, there is mainly a crumbled, red clay loam soil called terra rossa and cool breezes come in from Gulf St. Vincent. A few miles north, in Polish Hill, is soft, red loam over clay; westerlies blowing in from the Spencer Gulf influece this area's climate.
The differences in soil, elevation, degree of slope and weather enable the region to produce some of Australia’s finest, aromatic, spicy and lime-pithy Rieslings, as well as excellent Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec with ripe plummy fruit, good acid and big structure.
Clare Valley is an isolated farming country with a continental climate known for its warm and sunny days, followed by cool nights—perfect for wine grapes’ development of sugar and phenolic ripeness in conjunction with notable acidity levels.