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A Taste of Australian Wine
'Riesling'
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.
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).
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