This Watervale Riesling is quintessentially Clare Valley and more specifically shows the nuances of Watervale perfectly. Freshness and lively with citrus, natural acidity and slatey minerality.
Enjoy while young and fresh or cellar for 5-8 years. The wine will change over time as the acidity develops into toasted, buttery aromas and flavours.
THE VINES
The Watervale Riesling vines were planted in the early 1970’s and is situated in the heart of the township of Watervale. The soils are classic red loam over soft rock and slate.
THE VINTAGE
The lead up to the 2023 ripening season saw a very wet winter and spring season. The spring time temperatures were cooler than normal, leading to later bud burst, and later flowering than average. This in turn lead to a later than normal vintage, with harvest beginning in early March.
With minimal rainfall from end of December until harvest, there was little diseased pressure and the fruit was allowed to slowly and evenly ripen on the vine.
THE WINEMAKING
The Riesling was harvested in the early hours of the morning in early March 2023. The fruit was crushed, destemmed and pressed into stainless steel, and the juice allowed to settle. After 10 days of cold settling, the juice was racked with minimal lees pickup, to keep phenolics low. Only free run juice was use, no pressings.
The juice was inoculated with QA23 and was steady with temperatures of 15C maintained throughout. The wine was fermented completely dry with no residual sugar and no added acid. The wine was then stabilised, filtered and bottled in June 2023.