Old vine Eden Valley Riesling – 42 to 85 years of age – but it’s a sly dog with a few surprises. Wild yeast fermented with eight weeks on lees “for extra body, texture, weight and complexity.”
Fruit density without sacrificing detail, structure or longevity. First impressions are of fresh lime squeezed over slate. There’s lovely, pulpy citrus characters and even a suggestion of stonefruit. The entry is full of flavour before an exciting degree of tension kicks in as mineral driven acidity pulls the wine tightly together. Finishes with great persistence; a little fennel pollen, spice and some pithy grip. The texture is one of the real reasons it’s so approachable already. Finally, there’s a ‘wildness’ to proceedings that I cannot seem to capture in words. It adds unmistakable interest though, that’s clear enough. I’ll just call it an X-factor and leave it at that. 94 Excellent
Region: Eden Valley
Alcohol: 13.0%
Closure: Screwcap
Price: $22
Tasted: September 2012
Looks like we’re in for a Riesling deluge with the 2012 vintage. Will my cellar survive the onslaught?! ‘Detail’, for want of a better word, is the key to Eden Valley Riesling. Not sure what I really mean by that, but I think you’re on the same path.
MichaelC
Yep, certainly looks that way. I’ve got two more 2012s to test drive today. ‘Detail’ can (ironically) be quite an amorphous term. For me it implies a sense of intricacy in both flavour and texture…and perhaps a sense of discreteness between elements present without an accompanying feeling of disjointedness. In that sense at least, it is certainly a vital component of the Eden Valley Rieslings that I love.
Yes, that’s it. Excellent description. I remember the 2010 Dandelion Wonderland of The Eden Valley Riesling being much like that. Tim Smith 2011 also gets somewhere near that, although it’s cast in an even lighter, nay delicate, frame.
MC