Koonowla Riesling 2008 Front Label
Koonowla Riesling 2008 Front Label

Winemaker Notes

The 08 season was quite dry. It was warm in November and December, cool in January then warmed up in February when we started to harvest the Riesling. The color is pale straw with a green tinge. Floral lime and spice aromas precede a palate with mouth filling citrus flavor and a zesty long acidic finish.

Professional Ratings

  • 91
    Bright and jazzy, offering a lively mouthful of star fruit, grapefruit, floral and mineral character, remaining seamless through the long, vivid finish. Drink now through 2018.
Koonowla

Koonowla

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Capable of a vast array of styles, Sauvignon Blanc is a crisp, refreshing variety that equally reflects both terroir and varietal character. Though it can vary depending on where it is grown, a couple of commonalities always exist—namely, zesty acidity and intense aromatics. This variety is of French provenance. Somm Secret—Along with Cabernet Franc, Sauvignon Blanc is a proud parent of Cabernet Sauvignon. That green bell pepper aroma that all three varieties share is no coincidence—it comes from a high concentration of pyrazines (herbaceous aromatic compounds) inherent to each member of the family.

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Clare Valley

South Australia

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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.

OPI38534_2002 Item# 99223