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Complete list of wine articles
A taste of Australian wine "Rieslings"
by Gavin Trott
Riesling is the grape most associated with Germany, where the best examples
of it are stunning, world class wines. Here in Australia we are probably
the only other country to give this fabulous grape the care and attention
it deserves. Indeed, for many years it was the most popular Australian
white wine, only recently succumbing to the world wide fashion trend of
Chardonnay. To me it still produces more good wines, and perhaps more
to the point, less bad wines, than Chardonnay.
The wine is made to capture the essence of the grape, no oak, few wine
maker's tricks, just grape to wine. After picking, the grapes are crushed
then generally removed from the skins either immediately, or after a brief
period, while the rest of the task is to control the speed of fermentation
and keep the oxygen away from those fragile flavours. The wine will ferment
in stainless steel containers, chilled to control the fermentation speed,
and under an inert gas blanket. When finished the wine will be stored
for a short period then bottled to keep those primal fruit flavours. In
fact, we have been drinking the 1996 Rieslings now for some months, and
very good indeed they are.
Best Regions
In Australia Rieslings are grown in many regions, but only in 3 or 4 areas
are the best wines produced. The regions to watch out for are, in my order
of preference only, Clare/Watervale, Eden Valley, Great Southern, Western
Australia and pockets of the Adelaide Hills and Tasmania. Good wines are
produced elsewhere, but not with consistency or reliability.
Young Riesling will smell of freshly crushed grape, lime, citrus, tropical
fruit and floral smells. A friend of mine once described a Riesling as
smelling like 'orange blossom dipped in lime juice”, flowery language,
but that is what the wine smelled like.
They tend to have firm acid finishes, the Clare region typically producing
steely or flinty finishes with tropical overtones in the young wines.
They taste of fruits, limes, lemons, and passionfruit, often with floral
and even mineral edges to them, are long and zingy on the finish, and
are the perfect accompaniment to a range of sea food.
Aged Rieslings
Rieslings that taste so fresh and exuberant when young age surprisingly
and remarkably well. As the years go by the primary fruit fades to be
replaced by toast, honey, nuts and 'kerosene', that traditional yet hard
to describe smell of good older Rieslings. In fact, it is often a difficult
choice, drink young or cellar.
Many go through closed periods between youth and maturity, so personally
I like to drink them young and fresh, or after 5 years, but they can become
slightly awkward at about 1 to 4 years of age.
Food Matching
These wines are absolutely designed for seafood, especially freshly grilled
fish. It also goes really well with lobster as long as you avoid heavy
sauces, just the delicious lobster flesh, and the zesty limes and citrus
of the wine, a match made in heaven.
Another worthwhile fact is that now is the time to try these wines. The
currently available 2002 vintage is the best of the previous 10 or more
years, most are still available, and almost all of them great wine bargains
at $Aud20 or less pb (That’s about $US12 or less per bottle).
Current Tasting Notes
2002 Hewitson Eden Valley Riesling - In a stelvin closure, well
done Dean! Another spanking good 2002 Riesling, but this one is from Eden
Valley. This is all class, very pale colour with a very varietal nose
of lemon, with almost pea like hints, plus tropical fruits and floral
edged limes. The palate too is all class, powerful but tight fruits, limes
lemons and grapefruit, along with hints of spice on a long and crisp finish
with some lovely natural acid. Yum, and will cellar!
2002 Tin Shed Wines Wild Bunch Riesling - Wow, what a way to make
Riesling, whole bunch pressing, use wild yeasts, this is not playing it
safe, but what a great result, delicious Eden Valley Riesling! "hand
picked from old Eden Valley vineyards, and made the old-fashioned way
with whole bunch pressing and a wild yeast ferment without chemicals,
this amazing Riesling's a fair-dinkum blast from the past. ... Tight pear
and lime, with that beautiful mineral base tone of the best vintage in
yonks, its a work of wonder."
2002 Petaluma Riesling - "Brian Croser (wine maker) has no
doubts about the 2002 Riesling vintage: “It was the perfect riesling
year,” he says. “Fruit quality was superb. Acid was wonderfully
high. Flavour was excellent – it was a great, great riesling vintage.”
His own riesling release is one of the first off the ranks, and the verdict
is: it’s intense. Intensely grapey, intensely minerally, intensely
lemony/powdery, with an acid structure that seems both obvious and soft
– there’s clearly lots of acid here, but it has an Alsatian
super-softness to it. The result of all this is that, unusually, it’s
not overly attractive young – but should cellar magnificently.
About the author
Gavin is the manager of the Australian
Wine Centre (a large collection of affordable, rare and cult Australian
wines) and hosts the very popular Auswine
Forum (An online discussion forum about Australian wine) . You
may reprint this article either on a website or in print but you must
maintain this resource section naming the author. Please email the
author with details on
where you intend to use it. You can obtain the latest version of this
article and more free wine content for your website from www.freesticky.com |
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