Winemaker Notes
Color: Brilliant pale green.Aroma: Fragrant aromas of kaffir lime, lemon and talc. Maybe some subtle feijoa aromas too. It displays the clarity and purity of dry Clare Valley Riesling from an excellent vintage. Palate: Fresh, bright and delicate, the citrus fruit provides up front flavor while the mouth-watering spine of acidity elevates the wine to a clean, dry crescendo. Delicious.
This is the 35th release of this much-loved wine. The “Trad” is always a lovely drink upon release, but 5 -7 years in the cellar will rewardthose who like a little bottle age. Drink with any seafood really, but it’s pairing with fresh shucked SA oysters is hard to top.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Notes of bright citrus, wax, kerosene, flower blossoms and honey lead into a bone-dry palate that's fruit-driven, steering it away from overt austerity. Tangy fruit, crunchy acidity, a slippery texture and a mouthwatering finish all work in harmony with one another, making it hard to resist another sip.
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James Suckling
Super fresh and gently flinty riesling that has bright lemon and crushed-stone notes on offer with a soft, drinkable palate. Salty, minerally and lemony finish.
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Vinous
Translucent straw-yellow. Finely etched citrus zest and pear aromas, along with building floral and quinine flourishes. Dry and nervy on the palate, offering refreshingly bitter lemon zest, pear skin and succulent herb flavors and a hint of ginger. Finishes tight and precise, with the citrus zest note lingering.
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.