O'Leary Walker Polish Hill Riesling 2007

On a bit of a riesling roll at the moment. As always, the transparency of the grape is fascinating.

For the past few vintages, I have preferred the Polish Hill version of the O'Leary Walker to its Watervale sibling, finding it a bit finer and more elegant. I've not tried the 07 Watervale yet, but I do like this Polish Hill number. And now I'm sick of typing Polish Hill and Watervale.

A tight wine with delicate, floral aromas that hint at citrus and powder, with perhaps an underlying note of more juicy lemon substance. The palate continues the line of the wine and displays nice intensity of flavour. Citrus intermixed with talc, a sort of fun bubblegum type flavour, again quite powdery and pretty. The wine's acidity is quite firm and linear, and emphasises the sourness of the citrus in the flavour profile. Relatively coarse phenolics kick in towards the finish, but I think they work well and serve to reinforce the crispness of the wine.

I like it!

Pewsey Vale Riesling 2007

I went to the local Dan Murphy with the intention of buying as many 2007 rieslings as they had. I left with... two. Lame.

One of the reasons I love riesling is that it's so transparent and allows such a direct view to terroir and growing conditions. Take this wine, and compare it to the Petaluma we had the other day. The Pewsey Vale, typically for an Eden Valley riesling, is skewed firmly towards a delicate, mineral/floral flavour profile, with just a hint of the lime juice that Clare examples often place front and centre. Having said that, the 2007 Pewsey Vale seems a little indistinct, flavour-wise, and is of more interest in terms of its structure and mouthfeel. Lovely acidity, this wine. And remarkable length too; the flavour seems to linger on the back of the tongue for an awfully long time.

This is a tight, young riesling that I would be interested in seeing with some bottle age. I wish the flavour had more clearly defined components. Despite the crisp mouthfeel and structure, the flavour profile feels a little broad.

Petaluma Hanlin Hill Riesling 2007

I love this wine, generally, and it's been one of my favourite rieslings in the past. I always look forward to its release each year. This 2007 has been getting some great write ups so it was with some eagerness that I popped the top on our bottle tonight.

I'm happy to say that this wine isn't disappointing at all. In fact, I'm seriously impressed. The 2007, or this bottle at least, isn't as explosively fragrant as some previous vintages have been. It does, though, express an enticing floral/slatey aroma, slightly powdery perhaps, certainly attractive. The palate more than makes up for any slight aromatic reticence. A complex flavour profile of citrus blossom, lemon juice and slate explodes in the mouth and is carried the full length of the palate by lively, yet fine, acidity. This riesling sets itself apart from more ordinary examples through both the complexity of its flavour, and its clearly defined structure and mouthfeel. It's like a mixture of the sensuous and the intellectual, well balanced between extremes such that all one's desires as a wine appreciator are met.

I'll be springing for some of this, no question.

Peregrine Rastaburn Riesling 2005

Another wine from the recent order from Peregrine, this time a riesling.

This is a pretty slutty sort of wine -- upfront, generous; a very public display. It's an off-dry style and the overall impression is, well, exotic. Heady aromas of white peach, lychee and (as the wine warms in the glass) spicy incense intermingle within a thick nose that lacks a little in elegance. On the palate, amirable generosity of flavour is carried along by noticeable acidity and bitter phenolics. The residual sugar is really well judged and works in favour of both fruit and structure, enhancing the former whilst moderating the latter.

This isn't the most sophisticated wine, but it's refreshing, delicious and full of flavour.

Leo Buring Clare Valley Riesling 2007

A bit of fresh riesling lovin' last night.

When I was in the Clare Valley during vintage time earlier this year, most of the wineries were open about the difficulties of the 2007 vintage, so I've been curious to try the resultant wines.

Here we have a sprightly young riesling, which opens in lively fashion with estery "fake fruit" smells, sort of a sherbet character. In the mouth, the acidity is present but not at all steely or hard, and the wine's flavours are generous. There's some spritzy CO2 as well. After about an hour, the sherbet overtones disappeared and revealed more classic lime/lemon juice flavours, especially in the mouth.

If a riesling could be a "fruit bomb," this would be one. It's fun to drink and quite flavoursome, "like soft drink" as the other half commented at one point. The flip side of this is that it seems to lack structure and elegance, being somewhat flabby for a young Clare riesling. Its flavours are also a bit simple and one-dimensional. I would not try cellaring this one.

Update: I "found" a glass of this the next day that had been sitting out overnight. Of course I had to taste it. It was actually in quite good shape, and for kicks I left it all day and came back to it in the evening, whereupon it was still holding its structure and fresh flavours. Perhaps it won't fall apart as quickly as I thought.

Clonakilla rieslings

Two Clonakilla rieslings: 2005 and 2002. I retrieved these from the cellar a little while ago and decided to have a vertical tonight. These two vintages were my preferred Clonakilla
Rieslings between the 2002 and 2006 period. We had the 2006 a little while ago and found it a bit blah. Its flavour profile struck me as too broad and its structure somewhat flat.

By contrast, I remember tasting the 2005 at cellar door and remarking on its tightness and relative austerity. The 2002, in the year of its release, was my equal favourite riesling (along with the Mesh of the same vintage). Time to reivisit both and re-evaluate my initial impressions.

We had the 2005 first. I don't think this has developed significantly since release; it still tastes very primary and pretty much as I remember it. It's one of those chalky/floral/mineral rieslings (which I love), bone dry, with a lovely caressing acidity. Much more elegant and interesting than the 2006.

The 2002, by contrast, has started to show aged characters, and they are most attractive. The nose is still quite primary, and fairly subdued, with perhaps just an edge of honeyed sweetness alongside its powdery/floral aromas. The palate is where the age of the wine shows most, characterised as it is by an intense honey flavour. It's a delicious honey flavour ("high quality honey", we agreed) that is prevented from being at all cloying by all the primary flavours that surround it, and the still-zingy acidity that underlies the wine's structure. As the wine sat in glass, the honey flavour morphed into a sort of honey on buttered crumpet flavour that we both agreed was totally delcious. I think we'll be leaving the rest of the dozen a year or so before sampling again.

Mesh Riesling 2006

Back in 2002, the Mesh Riesling was probably the nicest riesling I tasted all year. I remember having it with Chris and Dan in an Indonesian restaurant in Glebe, along with the Clonakilla Riesling from the same vintage. Both wines were different and beautiful. The Mesh, I recall, had a very distinctive fruit flavour, sort of sherbet-like, that I enjoyed a lot. It was also structured with total clarity and balance. I have six bottles of it in my cellar. I wonder how it's developing?

In lieu of revisiting that vintage of the Mesh, I picked up a bottle of the current release, 2006, at Dan's the other day. Overall, I found it disappointing. Maybe my memories of the 2002 are a little overblown. Anyway, as a wine, it shows that Eden Valley delicacy, the spectrum of flavours tipped squarely to the floral/mineral side, rather than full on citrus juice as per some Clare rieslings. Well balanced, though without the clarity of structure that I find interesting in top rieslings. The acidity, too, was linear and well balanced, but it didn't have much distinctiveness. It would be interesting to contrast this wine with the 2005 Drumborg. Two different styles, but what's instructive is that the Drumborg has some key things that the Mesh lacks -- most of all, it has a clear personality. There's nothing wrong with the Mesh, it just didn't call out to me in a memorable way.

Leasingham Bin 7 Riesling 2000

Somewhat ironically, the riesling I've had most success in cellaring (at least in terms of least bottle variation) is a cheapie: Leasingham's Bin 7. I cracked open a 2000 last night from my stash that has not been raided since near to the wine's original release.

This wine is drinking so well right now. I most love riesling when it has developed a range of aged characters but has not lost the elements that make young riesling so much fun to drink (zingy acidity, cleansing primary fruit flavours). The wines seem to me most complex and rewarding at this stage. The Bin 7 had all this going on, showing complexity and balance across its flavours of lime, honey and toast. The wine's acidity brought everything together, being present and wonderfully linear without any harshness. Just a gorgeous, balanced aged riesling that we drank extremely quickly.

I have a 2001 in the fridge that I'm looking forward to trying.

Update: the 2001 was consumed and turned out to be significantly more developed than the 2000, and less interesting overall. It's losing its acid, fast. I'll be drinking my last two 2001s shortly.

Petaluma Riesling 1999

On release, this was "the one," the wine that got me hooked.

Last bottle. Of the several that I cellared, only two have been in good condition, this being one of them. A shame in a way, as I wanted to have this in the company of Chris and Dan. As it happened, the one I brought with us to the Clare was corked.

In any case, this one was great. Like the last bottle (consumed last November at Thanksgiving time), this one was drinking at its peak, with a superb balance of aged characters versus residual signs of youth. The mouthfeel reminded me of apple juice in its clarity and cleanliness. A delicious aged Clare riesling.