Winemaker Notes
We have chosen not to provide traditional tasting notes for any of our wines. Our wines hopefully capture vineyard life and vitality. As such the wines are constantly evolving. The only tasting notes that matter are yours.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This vintage of Mac Forbes’s “RS” Riesling, which gets named each year for the level of residual sugar left in the wine, is the driest (and therefore the lowest RS) in several years at 8 g. Pale gold in color, it opens with slightly reductive seashell aromas, balanced by delicate stone fruit, honeycomb and floral notes. In the mouth, the sweetness can be felt, but lightly. What it predominantly adds is a creamy texture. Acidity and fruit are there but not as crisply or brightly as one might hope to see this through the years
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.
As the most important area of wine production in Victoria today, the Yarra Valley is most popular for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, which account for over half of vineyard acreage. A gentle, rolling and rural region alongside the Margaret River, the Yarra Valley has a cool maritime climate with a lengthy growing season, perfect for these cool-climate varieties.
Two styles of Pinot Noir are possible here. The warmer Lower Yarra Valley with sandy, loam soils, produces plush and fruity Pinot Noir while the cooler, higher-elevation Upper Yarra Valley with soils of young red basalt, produces more angular and mineral-driven Pinot Noir.
Yarra Valley Chardonnay is among the best in Australia. To preserve the floral aromatics and fresh citrus flavors for which this area’s Chardonnay is so appreciated, time in barrel is restrained (though barrel fermentation is common). The best Yarra Valley Chardonnays display brilliant acidity, leesy characteristics, citrus, stone fruit and flavors of ginger and spice.
Shiraz and Cabernet find success in parts of this region as well.