A riesling to spring
Claudine Earley12/08/2009 12:00:00 a.m.
SPRING-CLEANING is a necessary evil, best enjoyed with an invigorating riesling.
Drs John and Brigid Forrest’s Doctors Riesling 2008 ($22) is an off-dry award-winner that is delicious as an aperitif. Better with food is Forrest’s The Valleys Wairau Library Release Dry Riesling 2001 ($30). It has the typical kerosene nose of an aged riesling, and is described as “honey and a hint of toastiness and spices such as nutmeg and cinnamon” in the mouth. It was heavenly with smoked salmon, caper and silverbeet potato cakes.
Lawsons Dry Hills Marlborough Riesling 2006 ($18) kept the spring cleaners happy with its aromas of funky lime, kerosene and honeysuckle blossom. Bright lemon and honeyed peach in the mouth, the acids are softened by residual sugar (6.5g/l) created by stopping the fermentation of one small tank before all the sugar was converted to alcohol.
Wine of the week:
Weka River Waipara Riesling 2007 ($19.95) comes from a boutique winery that first planted vines in 1999. The Waipara Valley in North Canterbury has a unique microclimate, with hot dry summer and autumn days, and cool nights giving the fruit plenty of time to ripen and achieve their full potential in terms of maturity.
The Weka smells like musty liniment and lime, and tastes like lime and lychees. Grapes were harvested in three passes, the third picking botrytised bunches according to the moon.
The juice from the noble grapes was fermented with wild yeasts, and again fermentation was stopped early, creating not only an off dry drop (14.7g/l RS), but also a sherbet sparkle from carbon dioxide captured in the process.
Drs John and Brigid Forrest’s Doctors Riesling 2008 ($22) is an off-dry award-winner that is delicious as an aperitif. Better with food is Forrest’s The Valleys Wairau Library Release Dry Riesling 2001 ($30). It has the typical kerosene nose of an aged riesling, and is described as “honey and a hint of toastiness and spices such as nutmeg and cinnamon” in the mouth. It was heavenly with smoked salmon, caper and silverbeet potato cakes.
Lawsons Dry Hills Marlborough Riesling 2006 ($18) kept the spring cleaners happy with its aromas of funky lime, kerosene and honeysuckle blossom. Bright lemon and honeyed peach in the mouth, the acids are softened by residual sugar (6.5g/l) created by stopping the fermentation of one small tank before all the sugar was converted to alcohol.
Wine of the week:
Weka River Waipara Riesling 2007 ($19.95) comes from a boutique winery that first planted vines in 1999. The Waipara Valley in North Canterbury has a unique microclimate, with hot dry summer and autumn days, and cool nights giving the fruit plenty of time to ripen and achieve their full potential in terms of maturity.
The Weka smells like musty liniment and lime, and tastes like lime and lychees. Grapes were harvested in three passes, the third picking botrytised bunches according to the moon.
The juice from the noble grapes was fermented with wild yeasts, and again fermentation was stopped early, creating not only an off dry drop (14.7g/l RS), but also a sherbet sparkle from carbon dioxide captured in the process.
