SmithCullam Riesling 2023

Name: SmithCullam Riesling 2023
Brand: SmithCullam
SKU: FESCR23V
Price: 80.00 AUD
Availability: InStock

Only a tiny quantity, 110 dozen is made in exceptional vintages from our oldest Geisenheim clone Riesling vines. This clone is renowned for retaining high acidity levels throughout the growing season, and our organic practices have increased its capacity to give delicious ripe fruit characters with good levels of natural acidity.

This wine was made from 100% Riesling grown in the Isolation Ridge vineyard at Frankland Estate. Geisenheim Clone Riesling vines planted in 1988 on undulating northern and eastern facing slopes with duplex soils of ironstone gravel over a clay sub-soil. The vineyard is situated 256 meters above sea level. The cool nights and long slow ripening periods typical of the Frankland River region allow maximum flavour development while maintaining the distinctive vibrant acidity for which Rieslings from this region are renowned.

$80.00

Quantity

Wine Details

Size750mL

TypeWhite

VarietalRiesling

Vineyard

Viticulture

A very wet winter gave us good soil moisture as we headed into a dry start to summer. We had no rain between mid-November and mid-January, when we got a good dose to freshen the vines. The weather cooled off significantly afterwards, allowing for plenty of calm hangtime that resulted in trademark line and intensity in a relatively delicate year. With bunch sizes and volumes back to normal cropping levels we saw ripening slowly evolve and build some wonderful fruit flavour and concentration resulting in a very exciting release.

Tasting Notes

Aroma

The nose is delicate, poised and precise, with scents of meadow flowers, peach blossom, lemon zest, crushed chalk and bath salts.

Palate

The slightest hint of sweetness opens up a satin-textured palate, which drives straight and long with ripe, juicy acidity. The soaring finish is dry, mineral-clean and beautifully balanced, resonating with floral, herbal and woodsy echoes and chalky grip. This is a wine of exceptional elegance where fruit intensity, natural acidity and well-judged residual sugar (it has about 20g/L) give tension and
harmony reminiscent of our favourite German Rieslings. It has substance and a sense of mature complexity even in youth, all the while retaining an effortlessness and salivating moreishness.

Winemaking

Wine Making

Handpicked when ripe in the early morning a few days before our Isolation Ridge Vineyard Riesling is pressed as whole bunches for fermentation in a combination of 1000-litre French oak ‘foudre’ (40% of the blend) and stainless-steel tank (60%) over four weeks. Towards the end of fermentation, when the ideal balance of sugar, fruit weight and acidity had been achieved, the wine was chilled to arrest fermentation. The wine is retained on lees in barrel for nine months, where additional complexity and texture are achieved.