Winemaker Notes
Made in a true Reserve style, the flavors of freshly cut limes, citrus rind and piercing natural acidity beautifully combine to create a wine that over delivers on all expectations. Fine, long and extremely age worthy
Professional Ratings
-
James Suckling
Another quite appley riesling but more in the territory of dried apple rind. The nose also sports a peppering of petrol and some elderflower cordial. The palate shows some really well-played acid and fruit balance, which sings out over a round texture. Finishes tangy but flavorful.
-
Wine Enthusiast
Dry Riesling of this quality is capable of aging up to two decades, especially under screw cap. This one is medium bodied and dominated at the moment by ripe, citrusy fruit. It’s more orange than lime, yet still shows great acidity and length. Cellar Selection
-
Wine Spectator
The 2015 Riesling Mort’s Reserve has a youthful, fresh and vibrant nose of lime juice, green mango and grapefruit peel with a waft of acacia honey. Dry, light-bodied and with a wicked backbone of crisp acidity, it delivers a refreshing citrus burst with some mineral layers and a steely finish. Rating 92+
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.