2016 Whitehaven Riesling
Accolades
Silver Medal - New World Wine Awards
Tasting Note
Colour / Appearance:Pale lemon-gold, with a green hue Aroma / Bouquet:Lifted lemon zest, mandarin, green apple with mineral and lavender notes. Palate:A lightly textured wine with a fresh, crisp acid zestiness, supporting the lemon and green apple fruit flavours and aiding the mineral seams. Cellaring:We believe after cellaring for a year or more this Riesling will gain some bottle-age complexity to augment the varietal characters the wine exhibits now. However, the wine is already in good balance, and can be enjoyed immediately. Food Match:Asian foods and as an aperitif. Serve:Lightly chilled.
Wine Analysis
Alcohol:11.5Residual Sugar:11.3 Titratable Acidity:7.4 pH:2.98
Viticulture
Harvest Date:31st March – 14th April, 2016 Climate:The weather was very dry early in the season, with average temperatures, clear skies and a high risk of frost. Warm conditions over flowering in mid-December resulted in good yields. Decent rain in early and mid-January, allowed for healthy canopies and vigorous growth. February was hot and dry, followed by warm, dry March; perfect weather for intense flavour development. Vine Management:The vines were pruned to 2 canes, with vertical shoot positioning. Balanced pruning, shoot thinning, wire lifting, and trimming ensured favourable canopy conditions.
Vinification
Winemaking:Half the fruit was hand-picked and whole bunch pressed, while the remainder was machine picked in the cool morning conditions. A press cut was made to minimise harsh phenolic compounds in the wine. After settling and clarification, the juice was fermented at very low temperature with a select yeast strain to retain the fruit’s intense varietal flavours. The ferment was stopped with some residual sugar to balance the high acidity. Winemaker:Sam Smail and Rowan Langdon.