St. Andrews

Riesling 2014

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.

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Wine details

Tasting Notes

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.
Vinification

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.
Vintage conditions

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.
Vineyard

Clare Valley
Technical details
- Acid: 7.12
- Alc %: 11.5
- PH: 2.98
- Residual Sugar: 0.07
Cellaring Notes

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

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

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

PalateThis 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.

Winemaker NotesAt 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.

Reviews

Michael Apstein,

17 Jan 2019

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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James Halliday,

15 Jul 2019

96 Points

Often held back for release with 5 years bottle age, but this already has such finesse and balance that part is on the market, a decision validated by the trophy for Best Riesling, Melbourne Wine Awards '14; lemon, lime and apple blossom tell of the flavours to follow.

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St. Andrews

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Reviews

Michael Apstein,

James Halliday,

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