2017 Whitehaven Marlborough Riesling
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TASTING NOTE
Colour / Appearance: Light straw with lemon hue and bright clarity
Aroma / Bouquet: Freshly cut lemon and lime fruits flavours, with sherbet and floral notes
Palate: A medium to light bodied wine with bright citrus aromatic flavours. These flavours are heightened by the fresh acidity and balanced residual sugar to aid the mouthfeel and texture.
Cellaring: We believe after cellaring for a year or more this Riesling will gain some bottle-age complexity to augment the varietal characters the wine exhibits now. However, the wine is already in good balance, and can be enjoyed immediately.
Food Match: Superbly paired with Asian cuisine and crisp green salads. This wine is excellent to whet the appetite before a meal.
Serve: Lightly chilled.
WINE ANALYSIS
Alcohol: 11.5
Residual Sugar: 11.6
Titratable Acidity: 8.1
pH: 2.92
Grape Growing: The vines were pruned to 2 canes, with vertical shoot positioning. Balanced pruning, shoot thinning, wire lifting, and trimming ensured favourable canopy conditions. The budburst timing was slightly later than normal and the vines experienced typical spring like conditions of variable temperatures, winds and rain. Early varieties, such as Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, flowered in cooler conditions leading to smaller yields. Other varieties had warm, dry conditions over flowering, resulting in healthy crop levels. In mid-December, the weather became warm and dry. January was notable for strong winds that parched the landscape. The later part of the season recorded lower sunshine hours, resulting in delayed sugar ripeness and a later start to harvest.
Winemaking: Half the fruit was hand-picked and whole bunch pressed, while the remainder was machine picked in the cool morning conditions. A press cut was made to minimise harsh phenolic compounds in the wine. After settling and clarification, the juice was fermented at very low temperature with a select yeast strain to retain the fruit’s intense varietal flavours. The ferment was stopped with some residual sugar to balance the high acidity.
Winemakers: Sam Smail and Diana Katardzhieva
ACCOLADES
- 2017 Air New Zealand Wine Awards: Gold
- 'It is elegantly expressed on the nose showing red apple, white nectarine, lemon peel and jasmine aromas, followed by a finely textured palate that is focused and linear with delicate fruit intensity. The wine is beautifully styled and restrained, backed by subtle sweetness and perfectly pitched acidity, finishing persistent and mouth-watering. At its best: now to 2021.' Sam Kim 91/100 4.5 stars
