The season suited riesling with a summer that was not too hot and an Indian summer with seemingly endless warm, dry days.  Our vines, which are up to a quarter of a century in age, have roots that can penetrate deeply into the mineral rich, stony soil and allow this very individual terroir to express itself in the wine. 
 

On release the aromas and flavours suggest lemons, limes, apples, greengages and nectarines.  On entry it seems deceptively light, but quickly expands to fill the mouth with impressive fruit concentration and depth.  There is a spine of mouth tingling minerality, which comes from the soils, that flows throughout the wine and draws out its lingering aftertaste.  With careful cellaring over the next 5 or 6 years, this wine should develop a range of other characters and complexity.

The outcrop of land on which these grapes were grown consists largely of weathered stones.  Millions of years ago these were torn off New Zealand’s mighty Southern Alps and deposited in selected valleys.  This individual terroir has shaped this wine.

The spring and early summer were warm and so exceptionally dry that we felt the vines might suffer from the effects of drought. In February we had the unexpected; a torrential downpour set the dry streams gurgling merrily and totally replenished the ground water reserves.  Late in autumn we had humid conditions which led to some botrytis developing in riesling.  Many producers picked early to minimise the effect of this but fortunately we braved it out until the weather cleared and the patches of botrytis became beautifully shrivelled and noble.