Howard Park Porongorup Riesling tasting 2019-2010. 10 March 2021

[Waiters Friend]

G’day

Riesling grapes from the Porongorup region in the Great Southern has long been a component of Howard Park Rieslings. Since 2010, the company has chosen to release a 100% Porongorup Riesling, in addition to their Great Southern / Mount Barker Rieslings.
We’ve tasted the Great Southern Rieslings - two years ago http://forum.auswine.com.au/viewtopic.php?f ... al#p155595 and six years ago http://forum.auswine.com.au/viewtopic.php?f ... al#p123815 . However, this is the first time we have looked at the Porongorup Rieslings specifically.

I will admit that this tasting came about after I blithely announced that I have every vintage made of the Porongorup Riesling in the cellar. A quick rummage revealed this was not in fact the case, and I am grateful to Burch Family Wines for supplying the three missing vintages. BFW also provided extensive tasting notes, viticulture and winemaking information.

All wines were made by Janice McDonald, except for the inaugural 2010 vintage made by Tony Davis. The first two vintages were remarkably dry (0.27g/L RS) and they remain dry (2017 and 2018 topped out at 2g/L RS). Alcohol averaged 12.0% throughout the ten year run, with remarkable consistency.

Grapes for all of the wines from 2014 forward are sourced from the company’s Gibraltar Rock vineyard.

As usual, the tasting notes here are a compilation of the group’s comments, and are not entirely my own. And, so to the wines:

2019 Howard Park Porongorup Riesling: Pale straw in colour. A steely, flinty nose, with lemon/lime, talc, ripe pear, and lots of florals. The palate is refreshing and zingy, with more lemon / lime, some lime zest or cordial, sherbet, and a great line of racy acidity. There’s intensity of flavour, and the wine has great length. Personally, I generally find Porongorup Rieslings need a couple of years after bottling to lose their reserve – not the case here. A great start and highly regarded by the tasting group.

2018 Howard Park Porongorup Riesling: Pale straw. A similar steely lemon/lime nose to the 2019, but with a little pineapple, melon and rosemary. The palate is showing lime cordial and zest, green pear and a little lanolin. It’s already starting to build complexity, and it bigger and more textural than the 2019. The group reckons this is built for the long haul.

2017 Howard Park Porongorup Riesling: From a cooler year. Straw bordering on yellow. Lemon nose, with mandarin, orange zest and talc. The palate has some chalkiness, along with lemon pith, and more mandarin. It’s slightly tart, leading to a medium to long finish.

2016 Howard Park Porongorup Riesling: Pale straw in colour, lighter than the 2017. It’s little shy on the nose, which is herbal with under-ripe rockmelon, mint (?) and chlorine (??). The palate returns to convention a little, with lemon lime, some cordial or lemon barley water, and this provides some texture. The nose (despite the descriptions perhaps) was considered to be pretty good, but not matched by the palate. The fruit falls away on the finish.

2015 Howard Park Porongorup Riesling: Straw in colour. There’s lime cordial, limoncello, flint, lemon blossom and blood orange on the nose. The blood orange continues over to the palate, which is quite tangy and juicy. There’s plenty of supporting acid, but not in the linear sense of the earliest wines. Good palate weight and length and “a persistence of citrus”. Well regarded by the group.

2014 Howard Park Porongorup Riesling: Straw bordering on yellow. The nose showed sherbet, lime juice and cigarette ash (?). The palate is rounder than previous wines, with lime cordial, red apple and pear. This is richer, and showing development.

2013 Howard Park Porongorup Riesling: Colour has just approached yellow. A slate nose, with lemon, lime, mandarin and sherbet. There’s softer acid than expected – a slight cordial-like texture, and flavours of orange marmalade and glace` ginger. Great length. It’s developing slowly – one taster stated that the wine shows “a sense of eternity”. I’m not convinced it will last quite that long, but agree that it has a long life ahead.

2012 Howard Park Porongorup Riesling: Just yellow in colour. Mayer lemon, lime juice and blood orange on the nose. It gives the impression of higher acid than the 2013, and the palate shows citrus pith, lanolin and a slight creamy texture. Great length, and well regarded by the group.

2011 Howard Park Porongorup Riesling: Light yellow in colour. The nose shows minerality, and there’s honey and toasty development. Softer acid than 2012 (possibly on a par with 2013) and lime cordial on the palate. Very slight kero on the nose, and this led to a group discussion regarding kero. Over the years, I’ve found that Howard Park Rieslings generally show less or no kero compared to some other Australian Rieslings, and this tasting reinforces that opinion..

2010 Howard Park Porongorup Riesling: Light yellow. Fresh citrus on the nose, with lemon butter or lemon curd. There’s also white blossoms and other floral notes. The palate had zingy acid offset with a slightly creamy texture or lanolin. Lots of palate weight, but the wine appears incredibly youthful – unlike the 2016, the fruit is keeping up with the acid as the wine ages. Highly regarded.

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David from Burch Family Wines then produced a surprise – the 1996 Howard Park (Great Southern) Riesling. Orange in colour, and very slightly sherried, with orange peel, marmalade and caramel giving an impression of sweetness. There’s also some roasted hazelnuts. There’s good supporting acid as well, and this was a pleasant surprise.

We always vote on Wine of the Night, and we ended up with a tie this time. Both the 2019 and 2010 vintages received equal votes and were therefore joint Wines of the Night. Surprising that the youngest and oldest vintages got the nod. I will note that in the previous HP Riesling tastings, the 2010 was highly rated both times, so no surprise on this one.

My deep gratitude goes to David Stredwick from Burch Family Wines for supplying technical information, the missing vintages, and his considerable knowledge of the wines, the vineyards, and the winemaking generally. Another memorable Howard Park tasting.

Cheers
Allan

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[Rocky]

Thanks Allan
As always I enjoy reading your groups’ tasting notes. I don’t mind the HP rieslings although in past couple of years have moved my purchases to Dukes who put out two riesling labels more to my palate.

Interesting the variation just amongst the Porongurup riesling producers.

Regards