Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A superb buy for lovers of dry Riesling – Pewsey Vale's 2010 Eden Valley Riesling reveals intense aromas of warm grapefruit, spicy poached pears, apricots, acacia honey and jasmine. Dry, very crisp, medium bodied and concentrated in flavors, it has a long finish. It’s still a touch youthfully tight, so it is best approached 2012 to 2018+.
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Wine Spectator
Light and refreshing, with pinpoint pear, apple and grapefruit flavors, the fruit echoing on the beautifully formed finish. Drink now through 2019.
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Wine & Spirits
Light scents of lemon-lime lead to rounder smoky flavors of kiwi and nectarine. This is a tangy, mineral-tinged oyster wine if you open it now. It is also suited to age.
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.
Higher in elevation and topographically more dramatic than the Barossa Valley floor, Eden Valley abuts it to its south and east. While it is a bit of an extension of Barossa, Eden Valley is topographically different than the pastoral Barossa Valley, and is composed of rocky hills and eucalyptus groves.
Recognizing Eden Valley’s potential with Riesling in the 1960s and 70s, producers started to move their Riesling production from Barossa to these better sites where schist soils on hilltops would produce more steely, tart and age-worthy examples. A most famous site, planted by Colin Gramp, called Steingarten, today produces one of the most outstanding Australian Rieslings. Youthful Eden Valley Rieslings express floral, grapefruit and mineral, while with time in the bottle, they become increasingly toasty and complex.
Riesling isn’t the only grape the region can grow; undeniably at lower altitudes Shiraz does very well. Mount Edelstone is a notable vineyard as well as the Hill of Grace, which boasts healthy Shiraz vines well over 100 years old. This is the only Australian region where Merlot has a made a name for itself and Chardonnay can be spectacular, particularly from the High Eden subregion in the southern valley.