2011 Radford Quartz Garden Eden Valley Riesling

Vinification

The grapes are all handpicked into 350kg bins over a two day period to ensure optimum flavour ripeness, then whole bunch pressed - guaranteeing the cleanest and purest free run juice. The pressings are kept separate, assessed and appropriate fining is applied and then wild fermented in old French hogsheads. The free run juice is cold settled for 4 - 7 days, racked from solids and blended, then warmed to 15 degrees C and inoculated with a French strain of yeast and fermented at 12 - 14 degrees C for 3 - 4 weeks. This wine was then racked from heavy lees and left on light lees for 8 ½ months, after which we blend, bentonite fine and bottle.

Winemaker's Comments

Although this was one of the wettest vintages in Eden Valley in recent years – and possibly one of the coldest, Riesling really shone as the star of the show. Picked a little earlier than usual to capture the delicate floral tones and underlying meyer lemon citrus notes with a touch of crisp green apple crunchiness. Fine powdery talciness softens the whole palate & creates further depth. Released after an extended period on light lees, this wine has fabulous natural acidity and lovely sugar to acid balance which make for a fabulously interesting & power packed wine now, and one that will age beautifully in the years to come.