Visit to Bridgewater Mill

[Gustav]

I've wanted to go to Bridgewater Mill for a while now, especially because Petalumas Hanlin Hill Riesling is one of my favourite Rieslings. The 2008 has just been released and I was looking forward to trying it. We started by tasting two sparkling wines; the 2005 Croser and the 1997 Croser Proprietor's Reserve. Both were very good, the 05 being fresh and lively and the 97 showing some interesting aging components in addition to fresh acidity. We then tasted the 2008 Petaluma Hanling Hill Riesling. The nose was very floral, almost like stuffing your nose in a flowering rose bush. The palate was a bit dissapointing as it lacked the intensity of the other Hanlin Hills I've tasted. The staff claimed that 2008 was a bit difficult with whites. We then went on to tasted the Bridgewater Mill Chardonnay (2006) and Viognier (2007), both very decent wines. This was followed by 2006 Petaluma Piccadilly Valley Chardonnay. Again a very nice Adelaide Hills Chardonnay! Next in line was the 2004 Petaluma Coonawarra Merlot, 2005 Bridgewater Mill Shiraz, 2006 Petaluma Adelaide Hills Shiraz and the 2005 Petaluma Coonawarra. All very enjoyable wines, especially the Petaluma Coonawarra. The tasting was finalised by trying out the 1998 (??late nineties at least) Petaluma "Essence" Botrytis Semillon, which was holding up great with a fine acidity complementing the sweetnes of this wine.

Since the CD has a nice museum stock for sale I decided to buy a 2002 and 2005 Hanlin Hill. Before deciding on what to buy the CD staff was kind enough to open a 2005 Hanling Hill, which was a great wine. Good intensity, loads of lemon and lime on the nose and a minor hint of petro. The palate was excellent showing lime characters and finishing minerally/slaty with fine lingering acidity.

It was a great tasting and there was a playground near by for the kids to run of some energy after getting bored in the tasting room.

cheers

[Gustav]

Forgot to mention that their 2002 Hanlin Hill Riesling was rebottled with screwcap closure. The 2005 was still under cork. I asked the CD staff whether they've had problems with their 2002 and therefore the rebottling (as e.g. Leeuwin). The answer was "no". The reason, if I understood him correctly, was that when the museum stocks were released (for sale) they were rebottled in order to ensure a perfect wine was sold. I found the explanation very customer friendly , but a bit strange. The 2005, also listed under museum releases, was strangely still under cork.