TN: AFWAC - 2009 Clare & Eden Valley Rieslings 22/2/10

[n4sir]

Last week the Adelaide Fine Wine Appreciation Club (AFWAC) staged a horizontal tasting of rieslings from the promising 2009 vintage in Clare and the Eden valley, presented by yours truly. I'd like to thank everyone who attended this enjoyable night and the rest of the committee for helping organising it; AFWAC meets the last Monday of every month, and anyone in Adelaide who's interested in joining and/or attending as a guest should email the club at afwac365@gmail.com . All of the following wines were bottled under screwcap, and served in pairs:


2009 O'Leary Walker Polish Hill Riesling: Very pale green colour. Slightly grassy at first, then lemon/lime blossom and wet limestone, just a hint of fish scale too; bright entry with mineraly lemon/lime fruit, finishing very long and lacy with mouthwatering minerality. A lovely wine to begin with. A Silver Medal winner at the 2009 Melbourne Wine Show.

2009 Pikes Traditionale Riesling, Clare Valley: Very pale green. There's immediately more obvious floral/blossom characters on the nose, very sweet and perfumed with a hint of ginger too; the palate's fruity and powerful, more flesh and brawn than the previous wine with a touch of lychee, leading to a powerful, puckery finish. Gold Medal winner at the 2009 Adelaide Wine Show, a Bronze at the National Wine Show, and impressive again tonight.


2009 O'Leary Walker Watervale Riesling: Very pale green/straw. Powerful nose of lemon juice and fennel, sweetening to be like white sambuca; the palate's a little leaner than I was expecting, slatey with a tangy mid-palate and a dry, tingly finish with some talcum powder on the end. A solid wine that lacks the oomph of the benchmark wines of the vintage. Bronze Medal winner 2009 Perth Wine Show.

2009 Jim Barry Watervale Riesling: Very pale green. After being impressed with a bottle a couple of months ago this was a surprise, and not a pleasant one; the nose was slightly cheesy and pongy with burnt match characters that it never quite shook off. The palate is better, powerful, lemony and pithy, there's more grunt than the previous wine culminating in a long, slatey finish.


2009 Pewsey Vale Riesling, Eden Valley: Bright, very pale green, almost colourless. Incredibly sweet nose, full of juicyfruit gum, lime blossom and mineral water; the palate opens with the same sweet fruit characters, leading to a very dry mid-palate of mineral and slate which power through to the finish, a little of that sweet fruit rebounding on the end. I'd heard mixed things about this wine going into this tasting, but I have to say I was very impressed. Bronze Medal winner at the 2009 Adelaide Wine Show.

2009 Henschke Peggy's Hill Riesling, Eden Valley: Very bright, very pale green, almost colourless. The nose is very closed initially compared to the Pewsey Vale, although it does let rip with similar sweetness just before we moved to the next flight; the palate's bigger though, with zippy acid, mineral and sweet lime juice mid-palate, finishing slightly grassy. The group was evenly divided as to which of the two wines they liked better. Silver Medal winner at the 2009 Adelaide Wine Show.


2009 Monster, Monsters Attack by Some Young Punks, Clare Valley: Pale green/straw. A waxy nose and palate of sweet apples, a little struck match too but that blows off fairly quickly; the sweetness seems much more obvious this time around surrounded by genuinely dry styles, but it's never over the top. 27g residual sugar, indigenous yeast fermentation, and sees some older (neutral) oak.

2009 Axiom March Riesling, Clare Valley: Extremely pale green. Despite having 'only' 20g residual sugar, this seemed a lot sweeter and simpler than the previous wine with rose petals/rose water characters.


2009 Heggies Vineyard Riesling, Eden Valley: Very pale green. A little struck match that blows off quickly, revealing sweet lime blossom and a little grass/soursob; the palate's a major step up on the previous wines, a lemony entry leading to a puckery/slatey mid-palate and a long, gum draining finish. The first of the showstoppers of the tasting, a winner of Gold Medals at the Adelaide & Brisbane 2009 Wine Shows.

2009 Lengs & Cooter Riesling, Watervale: Very pale green. Fairly closed, mineral water and a slice of lime, a little fennel and soursob in the distance; the palate's delicate and mouthwatering, talcum powder/bath salts, lime and white sambuca, extremely mineraly and long with fine, lacy acidity dancing in the background. There was a comment during the night that it's commercial in style, but very, very well done; I agree with the last bit. On this form it thoroughly deserved its Professional's Trophy for Best Riesling at the 2009 Hyatt Advertiser Wine Awards.


2009 Crabtree Hilltop Vineyard Riesling, Watervale: Bright and very pale green. The nose is just as exotic and tight as the last time I tried it, a little smoky this time with some struck flint/gunsmoke to go with the ever changing blossom and various wet stone characters. The palate's long, lacy and very, very powerful and grippy, a little yeast and fish scale characters add interest. The winner of four trophies including Best Riesling at the 2009 Clare Wine Show, and the general consensus was the judges got it right.

2009 Knappstein Hand Picked Riesling, Clare Valley: The nose is extremely tight and mineraly, lime juice and a little soursob off in the distance; the palate's an equal in power to the impressive Crabtree, pithy and lemony with a finish that's just as long and grippy, a little hint of tequila with a dash of salt at the end. There was little between this and the Crabtree on my scoresheet. Trophy for Best Riesling 2009 National Wine Show.


2009 Grosset Springvale Vineyard Riesling, Watervale: Very pale green. Fairly closed, taught and tight at first with a little struck match, but by the end of the evening it's relaxed its muscles and bolting, sweet lime juice and fennel, a little lanolin and talcum powder, becoming deeper and more perfumed with every whiff. Coming straight after some of the major winners on the wine show circuit, the palate's power, depth and balance are absolutely stunning, a thick spine of acid buried under layers of slate, limestone and lime fruit, the length outstanding. A vivid demonstration of why Geoffrey Grosset is acknowledged as a master of this variety, a wine that flirts with perfection.

2009 Grosset Polish Hill Riesling: Very pale green. Very much the Polish Hill equivalent to its Watervale sibling, with a bouquet that absolutely bursts of citrus blossoms, bathroom salts and perfume. The palate slowly builds from a soft entry to an absurdly powerful force that scrapes the teeth and sucks every drop of moisture from the cheeks; it dishes out an absolute thrashing, yet it's feminine, elegant, desirable and irresistible, like Dita Von Teese dancing on the back with four inch stilettos. I must be a masochist because it got my WOTN vote, although on my scoresheet there was nothing between either of the Grosset wines; they should live just about forever too.


The overall group votes for WOTN:
=1st - 5 votes: Grosset Polish Hill
=1st - 5 votes: Crabtree Hilltop Vineyard, Watervale
3rd - 4 votes: Grosset Springvale Vineyard, Watervale
= 4th - 2 votes: Knappstein Hand Picked, Clare Valley
= 4th - 2 votes: Heggies Vineyard, Eden Valley


Cheers,
Ian

[Softie]

Fantastic notes, Ian, thank you. John

[monghead]

Great writing once again Ian. Thank you. I especially liked the Von Teese reference. Absolutely slurpable mate... (the Grosset rieslings i mean).

Cheers,

Monghead.

[jester]

Great notes, reading them made me really feel like a glass of riesling. Two weeks ago I bought a recent release riesling dozen ( 6 x 2 bottles ) for tasting. So far the O'leary Walker Polish Hill 09 and the Lehmann Eden Valley 08 have been very impressive. The only one from the dozen I haven't tried yet is the Heggies 09 so I will put one in the fridge as soon as I finish this post. For me riesling is the true value wine around, never ceases to amaze at the quality available for under $20. Keep up the great work.

Cheers

Jester

[John #11]

Great notes Ian.

Clare 2009 is just sensational, as I said recently.

Jim Barry Watervale at around $13 a bottle is just unbeatable, but I must admit I haven't seen any variation like you have.

I'm a little disappointed you didn't taste the 2009 Kilikanoon Morts Reserve, IMHO it beats the Grosset rieslings hands down.

But granted, the Grosset machine is pretty good

Cheers John

[caper]

Thanks for notes Ian,
What do you or anyone else think is the best Grosset Springvale vintage of the last few years?

[Waiters Friend]

Thanks Ian, for superlative notes as always.

For me, the question is not Clare vs Eden, but for both areas, is 2009 a better than average (or even freakishly good) vintage? The signs seem to point that way.

Cheers

Allan

[n4sir]

Thanks for notes Ian,
What do you or anyone else think is the best Grosset Springvale vintage of the last few years?

In short, the 2009 - I haven't tried the 2008, but of the previous vintages 2007 was about the only comparable one which could (potentially) be in the same league as 2002/2003 which are top of the tree. Someone mentioned on the night Grosset's recent control over all of the happenings of the vineyard are finally beginning to show dividends.

Thanks Ian, for superlative notes as always.

For me, the question is not Clare vs Eden, but for both areas, is 2009 a better than average (or even freakishly good) vintage? The signs seem to point that way.

Cheers

Allan

There's been the odd disappointment, but overall I'm just about ready to call it the best Clare riesling vintage since 2002.

Cheers,
Ian

[Seven]

2009 Crabtree Hilltop Vineyard Riesling, Watervale: Bright and very pale green. The nose is just as exotic and tight as the last time I tried it, a little smoky this time with some struck flint/gunsmoke to go with the ever changing blossom and various wet stone characters. The palate’s long, lacy and very, very powerful and grippy, a little yeast and fish scale characters add interest. The winner of four trophies including Best Riesling at the 2009 Clare Wine Show, and the general consensus was the judges got it right.

tried a bottle tonight after reading the recomendation. note from an AMATEUR:

Youthful green colour. VERY NICE floral nose. definately flinty but nothing 'smoky' for me. fruity in mouth with balancing acid. not too powerful to me but IMHO it will get softened in another few years (if I can resist the temptation...). Great stuff! a good match with my kingfish sashimi tonight...

tempted to try its watervale vineyard