Winemaker Notes
Generously flavoured, yet still tightly wound, the palate provides the complete expression of the what the Clare Valley can do in a classic year. Lemons, limes, racy natural acidity all combine in a rewarding and ageworthy flavor experience.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2013 Mort' Block Riesling is youthfully reticent on the nose with freshly squeezed lemons, yuzu zest and chalk dust plus hints of white pepper and dill seed coming through. Wonderfully intense and tightly knit in the mouth, the very crisp acid creates plenty of tension through the long, mineral-laced finish.
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Wine Spectator
Light and elegant, floating flavors of pear, peach and citrus on a refined texture. The acidity kicks in on the long finish. Drink now through 2023.
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.