“…. A wine of great depth, beauty and harmony, it has rich, oily peach, apricot and honey flavours, abundant sweetness, good acid spine and an enduring finish.”
A mild spring, a warm summer and an early autumn produced beautifully ripe fruit. Rain in the late autumn encouraged a portion of wonderful noble botrytis in the grapes, giving this wine extra richness and concentration while still allowing it to clearly express its spectrum of beautiful varietal flavours.
The outcrop of land on which these grapes were grown consists largely of weathered stones and mineral rich gravels. These were shorn from New Zealand’s Southern Alps by an ice-age glacier that carried them down the valleys and deposited them in selected sites. The vineyard has warm days, but the nights are amongst the coolest in the Waipara Valley, which helps draw out the ripening period and retain good natural acidity. This is especially suited to our old riesling vines that have now had time to sink their roots deep into this unique mineral rich terroir.
We hand-picked riesling from the same vines multiple times in late autumn, choosing only the most beautifully noble botrytic fruit on each occasion. Further hand selection was done in the winery retaining only the best berries. These were gently pressed and a small amount of very rich juice was obtained. It was allowed to settle and the clarified portion was then fermented over many months at low temperatures in order to help retain its special aromas and flavours. The juice was so concentrated that when the fermentation stopped it still had a rich, natural sweetness. It was made in the style of an Alsatian Selection des Grains Nobles or a German Trockenbeerenauslësen.
On release the wine is a star bright, light golden colour. It is redolent with the aromas and flavours of apricots, yellow fleshed peaches, mango, pineapple and comb honey, supported by an underlay of freshly crushed root ginger and tropical spice. It is rich and luscious in the mouth but an incisive spine of acidity and minerality perfectly balance its sweetness, adding freshness and crispness to the lingering after-flavours. While ready to drink on release it should develop a peacock’s tail of additional shimmering nuances with careful cellaring.
“…. A wine of great depth, beauty and harmony, it has rich, oily peach, apricot and honey flavours, abundant sweetness, good acid spine and an enduring finish.”
“This is totally delicious …. It's creamy and velvety with refreshing acidity, finishing persistent and gratifying.”
“… Very intense, exotic wine … Delicious now but no rush.”
“ ... An exciting and delicious wine …”
“… This Noble Riesling shows impressive arrays of flavour, strength and balance, lending an incredibly moreish, pleasing finish ...”
“The 2017 Riesling Encore Noble does botrytis the way it's supposed to be done … “
“… The wine is just so delicious ….”
“… Lusciously sweet, full-bodied wine with vivid acidity which balances out the palate. Rather concentrated and complex wine with fascinating fragrance and aromatics.”
Trophy Sweet wine of the year WINESTATE, Australia
“… A very elegant wine …. finely balanced and lasting”
“ There is an impressive concentration of sugar and flavor in this botrytis riesling. Lime and peach fruits, as well as marmalade and dried apricots. Luscious and balanced”
“ … The freshness here is an utter delight, a lip-smacking edge to the gorgeously long close creates a superb sense of balance”
“ … It’s wonderfully sweet and rich … the balance is superb and the finish lasts into next week. Wow!”
“ … The taut focused palate is very well balanced, with a fine line of acidity …. Excellent”
“Concentrated, luscious, … bush honey, pineapple, ginger and ripe peach … very lengthy finish”
“ … concentrated core of ripe exotic fruit … delicious rich and near-unctuous concentrated Noble Riesling …. “
“ … This really is a delicious dessert wine.”
“...sweet and decadent to taste and light-medium bodied, lusciously rich flavours of ripe, exotic tropical fruits and citrus fruits are melded with honey, marmalade, crystallised fruits and a little toffee. …. This is a rich and luscious botrytis-affected sweet Riesling with layers of exotic fruits, marmalade and lifted florals, and a soft, near unctuous mouthfeel. ….”.
“… exquisitely balanced with a delicious silkiness on the palate. Great complexity and an absolute delight.” .
“ …. rich, sweet and unctuous, … a wonderful backbone of refreshing acid and a finish that just goes on and on.”
“ …. layers of flavour, lively acidity, and a sweet, lasting finish.” .
“. . impressive purity and a lingering finish that refuses to quit . ."
“…Very rich and opulent, this is nectar-like with an unctuous and rounded mouthfeel. Decadent flavours of citrus fruits, marmalade, honey and toffee unfold in gentle waves, and the wine coats the palate. The fruit and botrytis show great presence and intensity. Lifted floral and VA elements cut the richness with fine, underlying acidity lending drive. The wine flows seamlessly to a soft, lush, very long, lingering finish. This is a rich and unctuous botrytised Riesling.
TOP TIP Golden in colour and honeyed on the nose this is classical dessert wine. The concentrated fruit in the palate shows lemon, citrus and a nudge of marmalade. Unctuous and everlasting. Yum.
This was the panel’s favourite wine in the New Release tasting. It just strikes that perfect balance between fruit sweetness and acidity making it the perfect dessert wine. Yum!
“… has a profoundly scented nose of acacia honey, apricot preserves and orange marmalade with touches of frangipani and dried mango. Fully sweet, rich and viscous, it gives a satisfying tropical fruit and honey layers with a good line of enlivening acid and a long finish.”
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