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Wine Description
The Story
This fine elegant Riesling has aromas of lime juice and honey blossom while the palate offers excellent fruit weight with minerally flavours that linger on the finish. Drinking beautifully and sure to age well.
Wine Information
VINEYARD
Virtually next door to each other in the Polish Hill River, Martin & Joan Smith and Molloy's vineyards stand as excellent examples of what this sub-region of Clare can achieve. Quality soils are the thumb print of all great wines and as the road leading to both vineyards is called Blue Cutting Rd, so too is the basis of these vineyards. Grey loam acid soils over sandstone and slate make up the profile with much of the top soil littered with rock, hinting at just how tough the vines need to be to sustain growth and produce quality fruit - not to mention the work of the vigneron to ensure overall balance.
Only 9 kilometres from Watervale, the Polish Hill River region is quite a bit cooler and typically the fruit ripens 2-3 weeks later; this combined with the soil profile produces fruit with finesse and intensity. It is the slate of Polish Hill River, as opposed to the limestone of Watervale that gives rise to the point of difference between these styles. Despite growing these vines organically since their planting in the 1970’s, 2012 marked the first year of NASAA Organic Certification for these vineyards.
VINIFICATION
Fruit is harvested in the cool of the night, de-stemmed, crushed and gently pressed. This results in a fine free-run cut and a pressings component, with all batches kept separately in stainless steel tanks. The free-run juice is chilled to preserve the vineyard expression and purity of fruit. Once the juice has settled it is racked off solids and seeded with yeast. A cool, temperature controlled fermentation is carried out over 10-14 days. The wine is then chilled and filtered prior to bottling. O’Leary Walker Wines has recently gained NASAA Organic Certification, with this wine being organically produced under these guidelines.
TECHNICAL DETAILS
pH 2.85 TA 7.0g/L ALC 11.6% RS 1g/L
WINEMAKERS
Nick Walker, David O'Leary
COLOUR
Pale straw with steely green tinges
BOUQUET
Delicately perfumed with a hint of musk and bath salts.
PALATE
Textured with orange rind, lemon, lime and spice. Delicate with crisp natural acidity and balanced finish.
FOOD MATCH
A perfect accompaniment to oysters natural.
CELLARING POTENTIAL
This wine is ready to drink now as a young, vibrant Riesling. You will be rewarded by careful cellaring for decades to come.
