A cloudy summer followed by beautiful autumn proved to be excellent for riesling. We selected only the most perfectly raisined botrytic berries to make this wine in the style of an Alsatian Selection des Grains Nobles or a German trockenbeerenauslëse.

 On release the wine has a bright lemon gold hue.  It is packed with impressions of yellow fleshed peaches, apricots, guavas, lychees, fresh figs and honeycomb. The palate is rich, luscious and unctuous but there is a lively minerality and acidity which course through the wine and prevent it from being cloying.  There is a long lingering aftertaste.

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.

Pollination of the grape flowers was affected by frequent strong, cool winds in late spring and early summer, resulting in a small crop of riesling grapes.  The rest of the summer was splendid and the autumn was warm, dry and lingering.  The berries became optimally ripe and flavoursome...

The early summer was extremely hot and initially it seemed as though it might be too much for this cool climate variety.  Fortunately, February was atypically cool, slowing down the grapes’ maturation.  There followed a long, dry autumn which allowed the riesling to ripen perfectly.