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    St. Andrews

    Riesling 2014

    Result Bronze 0

    Result Silver 0

    Result Gold 0

    Result Max 0

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    Hedonistic and tightly focused, this exceptionally balanced wine displays lemon, lime and a seamless spine of natural acidity leading to a finish of extraordinary length.

    TEST Download full winemaker notes

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    Honours and awards
    Accolades

    Honours and awards

    • Wine Show
    • Award
    • Royal Melbourne Wine Awards 2014
    • Trophy
    • National Wine Show of Australia 2015
    • Gold
    • San Francisco International Wine Competition 2015
    • Gold
    • Texsom International Wine Awards 2015
    • Gold
    • Catavinum World Wine & Spirit Competition 2015
    • Gold
    • Sakura Japan Womens Wine Awards 2015
    • Gold
    • National Wine Show of Australia 2014
    • Gold
    • Royal Melbourne Wine Awards 2014
    • Gold
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    Wine details
    VITAL STATISTICS

    Wine details

    • At release, the wine is a very pale straw colour with a slight green tinge to the edge.

      The wine displays zesty lemon and lime aromas along with faint orange blossom and talc.

      This particular Clare Riesling is still tight and restrained with a linear focus to the palate and purity of fruit flavours. There are lashings of fresh lemon/lime juice characters up front and a slate-like minerality across the mid-palate. It is backed up by a persistent and refreshing lime acid finish.

      At release, the wine is a very pale straw colour with a slight green tinge to the edge. It displays zesty lemon and lime aromas along with faint orange blossom and talc. This particular Clare Riesling is still tight and restrained with a linear focus to the palate and purity of fruit flavours. There are lashings of fresh lemon/lime juice characters up front and a slate-like minerality across the mid-palate. It is backed up by a persistent and refreshing lime acid finish.

    • The aim is to craft a wine of delicacy and finesse that will age well. To this end, the juice was extracted using gentle whole berry pressing to protect the delicate fruit flavours and prevent any extraction of course phenolic character. It is then chilled quickly to just under 10 degrees C. The entire process occurring within ~15 minutes of harvest to ensure the true varietal and regional characters are captured and retained. The juice was allowed to cold settle for 24 hrs before being racked off gross lees. A cool fermentation was carried out in stainless steel vessels, using a relatively neutral yeast strain to preserve varietal characteristics. The fermentation was completed to a natural level of dryness. Minimal fining and filtration was employed prior to bottling in September 2014.

    • The growing season leading up to vintage 2014 saw average autumn and winter rainfalls on the Taylor family Clare Valley estate. During winter, the average daily temperatures were more or less average, resulting in the first budburst occurring at the normal time of late August. The rainfall for spring was 72 mm below average; however vine vigour was still good due to the presence of subsurface moisture from regular winter rains. During the first week of December there was a cool change and 16 mm of rain fell. This provided the vines with welcome opportunity to ‘freshen up’. The remainder of December and the first half of January were dry and warm with thankfully no heatwaves due to regular cool changes. From mid-January to mid-February however, hot conditions prevailed which delayed veraison, although soon after overnight temperatures dropped to 1˚C cooler than average, which favoured fruit ripening and flavour development in the white fruit. Harvest commenced relatively early due to hot conditions through most of January and February. Almost all white varieties were picked by mid-February. On February 14 the hot conditions and indeed harvest were both bought to a sudden stop by a 55 mm downpour of rain. Within a week after the rainfall, most of the Riesling was harvested with the winemakers impressed with the balance of natural acidity achieved in the vineyards.The majority of source materials for this wine, vines on the A80 and A81 blocks, were hand pruned to one spur and then summer pruned; again to reduce vigor.

      St Andrews vineyards, block A80 and A81, planted with the clones GM239, GM198, and Pewsey Vale.

    • Clare Valley

      • Acid: 7.12
      • Alc %: 11.5
      • PH: 2.98
      • Residual Sugar: 0.07

    • Under ideal conditions this wine should cellar well to 2034, possibly longer.

    Download full winemaker notes

    15

    Reviews
    EXPERT APPRAISALS

    Reviews

    • Drinks Picks

      12 Jan. 2014
      Very pale straw colour, with a slight green tinge. Lime and lemon aromas with a touch of orange blossom and talc, as a result of fruit sourced from Clare Valley. Tight slate-like minerality on the mid palate. Whole-berry pressing has resulted in lime, citrus and tropical friut flavours. Also a hint of orange blosson on the palate. Long and refreshing lime acid finish.
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    • Jeremy Bowell,

      10 Jan. 2014
      It’s not hard to see why the Riesling has been getting so much love. Imagine squeezing a fresh lime onto a hot slate tile with a jasmine flower stuck behind each ear and you’re getting a sense of the aromas leaping out of the glass. On the palate there’s more fresh lime, a splash of yuzu and the faint hint of white spring flowers wrapped around a flinty core that lingers long on the palate. There is a precision and balance here for such a young wine that borders on precociousness. Drink it now with freshly shucked oysters or pan seared scallops. If you have the patience, this is a wine that will reward 5+ years of cellaring.
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    • Tony Love, Bottle Stop

      5 Jan. 2015
      The Taylors 2014 St Andrew’s riesling has a delightful white floral and citrus background fragrance with a lightly honeyed lemon juice lift over a sense of tropical fruit salad, then quickly pours into a glorious, mouth-coating, pithy lemon lolly-like set of flavours and texturals, well measured with just the faintest note of offdry fruit sweetness in the finish.
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    • 6 Jan. 2015
      91/100
      Green straw, this is initially juicy and generous, the fruit quite peachy, before a driving, grippy finish. It's just a bit rough and tumble for a super premium Riesling, but good intensity and great length, if raw. Needs five years to show its best.
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    • Dan Berger, Tasting Notes

      11 Jan. 2015
      Exceptional
      This youthful, wildspice and floral-scented wine has a succulent entry, but it is bone dry and almost angular. A delight with Asian foods like curry and mildly seasoned Himalayan dishes.
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    • Glenn Frederiksen,

      12 Jan. 2015
      91/100
      Clare Valley has a reputation for world-class Rieslings made in a dry style, and rightfully so. This is an excellent example. In the glass, it exhibits a very pale straw color. The nose is captivating, a swirling mixture of steely minerals, flowers and lime. In the mouth, a vibrant acidity lends a juicy quality to the lime and lemon fruit flavors, all with an underpinning of slate-like minerality. Fermented dry, this is a quintessential food wine, perfect for pairing with fresh seafood, shellfish, and even wienerschnitzel. This bottling has a track record of aging beautifully for up to two decades.
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    • Clare Valley and surrounding regions

      8 Jan. 2015
      4.5 stars
      "A great wine," declared one judge. Very shy, restrained flinty citrus aromas and a light lean palate with delicate fruit persistence and drive, lots of acid. Needs time.
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    • Joe Roberts,

      12 Jan. 2016
      A-
      Lime petrol with enough energy to power a white dwarf star.
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    • Jane Parkinson, Liquid Assets

      5 Jan. 2016
      Bright with lemongrass, jasmine and lime aromas, this is quintessential Clare Riesling, with less than 1g/l of sugar. Limey and tropical, it is zesty but generous. A zippy palate cleanser now, but it will keep too.
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    • Ronn Weigand MW, MS, Star Listings

      5 Jan. 2016
      5 Stars
      Screw cap. Very fine dry Riesling. It is elegant in character (lime, candied lemon, apple, pineapple, honeysuckle), medium bodied, and crisp, with a very long, vibrant finish. Can be aged for years. 11.5% [2016-2019]
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    • Isaac Baker,

      5 Jan. 2016
      91/100
      Pale straw color. Smells of sliced limes, white peach, nectarine, floral perfume and a complex mix of chalk and dusty minerality. Crisp and lively on the palate but some waxy texture adds depth. Green apple, kiwi, orange rind, lime, the fruit is pure and driven. This Riesling possesses a deep sense of minerals, mountain stream, smashed rocks and chalk. So clean, zesty and vibrant. A gorgeous Clare Valley Riesling.
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    • Josh Raynolds, Australia Rediscovers its Mojo

      3 Jan. 2016
      90/100
      Vivid straw. Zesty, sharply focused nose displays scents of fresh citrus fruits, white flowers and mint. Dry, tangy and linear on entry, then fleshier in the middle, offering an array of citrus fruit flavors and a touch of bitter quinine. Closes spicy, firm and emphatically dry, with very good clarity and resonating citrus character.
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    • Josh Greene, Riesling Reviews

      2 Jan. 2016
      94+/100
      A selection from the St. Andrews vineyards, this is pressed immediately after harvest, then allowed to settle for a day before racking into a cool fermentation in stainless steel. It’s precisely focused and completely dry, the structure tight up front, then gently expansive as the fruit washes up underneath the acidity like the undertow of a wave. That acidity is as malic as red apple skin, as puckering as grapefruit (the pH is 2.98). But then the flavors are more relaxed, opening from earthy talc toward fresh apple, pear and mace. Powerful in its intensity, this is a grand Riesling that will age for a decade or more.
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    • MaryAnn Worobiec,

      7 Jan. 2016
      90/100
      Meyer lemon, melon and ruby red grapefruit flavors are intense and bright, with a whiff of dried honeysuckle. A crisp minerally note offers terrific punctuation on the long finish. Drink now through 2024.
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    • Michael Apstein,

      1 Jan. 2017
      92/100
      It could be the screw cap closure, but whatever, this wine benefits enormously from 15 minutes of aeration before consumption. Then it sings. Dry and cutting, it has the enamel-cleansing quality of first-rate Riesling. A firm racy edge makes it better with food, such as spiced Asian or Indian fare, as opposed to a stand along aperitif.
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