New Release Riesling 2008…

February 23rd, 2010 | Posted by Kirk

A new breed of Riesling, an emerging trend over the last few years here in New Zealand. Lower levels of alcohol (10.5%), bags of flavour and beautiful balance.

And here is ours….Sandihurst Waipara Riesling 2008

For you wine geeks out there, the fruit for this wine is from Waipara, the major contender for NZ’s vacant Riesling-capital crown. Picked around 20-21 Brix, lightly pressed and only briefly settled (as to retain a high level of juice solids-important for extract) before fermentation was begun by the natural yeasts of the vineyard. No additions were made to this wine aside from a small amount of sulphur at bottling. The fermentation was allowed to proceed in tank without temperature control with peaks around 23C. The yeasts stopped work with residual sugar in the mid 20 g/L range, which was in lovely balance with the acidity of the wine. The wine then remained on full fermentation lees for 6 months to build some weight and texture. No fining and no cold stabilisation. Filtered and bottled in February 2009 and the bottle aged for a year prior to release to ensure it gets to you in the best possible shape. 10.5%alc, 23g/L RS, 7.5g/L TA and 2.95pH.

A beautiful style of Riesling that is really only possible in the cooler climates. I guess the Mosel would be the extreme case. There are a number of excellent examples around the country now. These are wines which need their own category at wine shows but as yet no show in NZ has done this to my knowledge. Also shows how great the Riesling grape is when you can make brilliant wines from such a range of ripeness levels, in a varied range of styles and all with the ability to age longer than most other whites. No Pinot Gris! even you cant do that.

Not a wine nerd? Fine,  then all you need to know is that this is a brilliant white wine, tasty, flavoursome, and delicious. Try one and you’ll be back for more, thats guaranteed !