Viticulture

Located on the western slope of the Eastern Ridge of the main valley, this vineyard is shaded from the heat of the morning and enjoys the long summer afternoon sunlight. Dry grown, the vines have had to work hard to reach down through the yellow clay that sits beneath the vines. The cooler climate is accentuated by the elevation of the vineyard, and especially felt in the low night time temperatures that create an ideal diurnal temperature range for ripening fruit and respiring vines. Sitting in an natural amphitheatre that gradually steepen at the lowest point of the vineyard allows both humid and cold air to flow from the vineyard and produce naturally low disease and low frost risk area - allowing us to implement a minimal interference in the vineyard.

The 2023 season was a challenging climatic year, but one that suited the white varieties very well as the environmental stress it produced saw the vines focus their energies into producing grapes. A cool summer induced a late flowering, giving the vines fresh from their dormancy to focus energies into producing full and dense leaf canopies. This was critical as once the berries were produced later in the season the warm weather was beginning. The additional shading of the canopy combated the heat of the sun and allowed the grapes to develop their flavours in step with the accumulation of sugar ripeness. Repeated grape sampling over the two weeks prior resulted in the decision to pick the vineyard on the 19th March just before dawn. In darkness the harvester was escorted along the rows and the picked bunches were delivered to the winery in gondolas, where they were loaded into the awaiting press.

Specifics
Location – Hill River; Clare Valley; South Australia      Elevation – 390 meters
Average Vine Age – 22 years      Soil – Sandy loam over yellow clay      Dry Grown

Winemaking

Delivered to the winery in the early morning, bunches were checked and loaded into a de-stemmer. The grapes were passed through a chiller to snap chill the berries as they were loaded into a small enclosed press. Under inert gas coverage, the initial draining was allowed to occur naturally solely from the weight of the grapes on-top of each other. Once this draining had occurred, the press was activated to its softest possible pressure to crack the berries. Once again the juice was allowed to natural drain and was collected. This bright first juice was held separately. The juice was chilled to 4 degrees and allowed to settle naturally, clarifying over 48 hours. Once clear, the clean juice was rack from the top of the juice lees into a closed stainless steel fermenter where it was allowed to warm as commence fermentation. Once the fermentation was underway, the ferments temperature was regulated low to retain as much of the highly aromatic compounds in the wine. Fourteen days after first fermentation was noticed, the wine was determined to be in an idea balance and was stalled by chilling it. The wine was then remain on its fermentation lees and was battonaged for a couple of weeks. Once the ideal texture had developed, the wine was chilled to below 0 degrees and allowed to sit for a few week to cold stabilize – allowing the precipitation of the excess natural acid. The wine was clarified through traditional methods before being racked clean and filtered.

Technical
Alcohol – 11.5%     Residual Sugar – 1.2 g/L     Acidity – 6.6 g/L
Fermented & matured in Stainless Steel - Bottled 23rd August 2023

Sensory
Bright and clear, the wine is pale yellow in with a seamless clarity carrying the colour through the meniscus.

The wine is aromatically intense.  Aromas of sweetened lemon juice and white drive and overlay alluring subtle aromas of honey suckle florals and fennel seed. These bright aromas pair perfectly with soft marmalade like citrus flavours that are carried broad and long across the palate by a enveloping peach like acidity.

This palate coating Riesling is well balanced between the small amount natural remaining sugars and the softened acid and time on lees. The wine while intense in flavour is quite dry on the palate with a mouth coating finish that leaves the palate refreshed with long subtle flavours.

Serving

This wine should be slightly chilled and allowed to warm in the drinker’s glass. This will allow the wine to truly blossom and provided the drinker full experience of the variety and its evolution over the course of a bottle. This wine has been crafted by the winemaker in the mind of serving while it is young and fresh- however, with the ideal growing season and layers of finely balanced acidity in the wine, this wine will mature well for another 5 to 7 years.

Tasted by Pete & Tom

Tasted on 28nd August 2023

TOPE – Wine for today, tonight and tomorrow.