Late Harvest Riesling Reserva 2010, Casablanca Valley
Vineyard :
All fruit was sourced from our own vineyard - located within the most fog affected, westernmost reaches of the Casablanca Valley. Sourced from a 10 year old block of Riesling planted on a sandy loam soil this wine is made from 100% Botrytis (or noble rot) affected grapes. The vines used to make this wine were cropped at an average of 1.6 tonnes per hectare (0.6 t/acre).
Harvest :
Harvest was carried out by hand on June 14th, 2010.
Vinification :
On arrival at the winery all grapes were first subjected to a whole bunch followed by an individual berry selection. The grapes were then loaded by hand into a pneumatic press where they were gently squeezed in order to extract only the highest quality juice. The resulting juice was fed by gravity to fifth use French oak barrels where it was slowly fermented for four weeks with selected yeasts. Following fermentation the wine was aged for 4 months on gross lees before being racked and returned to second use French barrels where it was aged for a further five months. After a total of 10 months in barrel the wine was racked to tank, filtered and bottled. This is a very limited edition wine with a total production of only 120 cases (or 1,080 bottles).
Tasting Notes :
Light golden in colour this complex wine reveals a seductive nose of apricot, crème brulee, walnut and almond. In the mouth lush notes of quince, honey and spiced apple combine effortlessly with a bright, zesty acidity to give excellent structure and length.
Wine Analysis :
