NobleRottersSydney - Old riesling night

March 2005 sees a night dedicated to Aged Riesling – with the usual few ring-ins outside the zone. One of which was the first wine…

• 2004 Delatite Riesling

  Australia, Victoria, Central Victoria, Upper Goulburn

  {screwcap} Pale straw colour. Gentle apple-like nose. A fruit sweet palate, with soft but fresh acid. Tending towards the Gewurz end of the riesling scale. An early drinker, with a lightweight finish of respectable length.

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• 1999 Jeir Creek Riesling

  Australia, New South Wales, Southern New South Wales, Canberra District

  Mid yellow colour, with a subdued nose largely of bottle-age characters. A little gentle sourness, with a hint of lemon-detergent flavour on the palate, together with a faint whiff of oxidation. Finish fades away quickly. Drinkable, but not particularly memorable.

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• 1997 Prospect Vineyards Riesling

  Australia, South Australia, Mount Lofty Ranges, Clare Valley

  The Prospect is a mid-yellow colour, with an all-petrol nose. No oil shortage here. The palate is very flat and dried out. Short finish. Not a good advertisement for 97 Clare at all.

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• 1997 Penfolds Riesling Reserve Bin Aged Release

  Australia, South Australia, Mount Lofty Ranges, Clare Valley

  Sadly, the Penfolds isn’t much better [than Prospect]. Similar colour [mid-yellow], and a higher grade of diesel here, which is not nearly so pronounced. There are woody, oxidized notes on a predominantly front-palate finish of no great length or distinction. Despite all the early hype about Clare in 97 being a great vintage, it must be apparent by now that it was a spectacularly rich early drinker. It’s Archie Jackson, not Stan McCabe…

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• 1997 Snowy River Riesling Dry Rhine Riesling

  Australia, New South Wales

  A potential ‘triumph or disaster’ wine coming, as it does, from neither an acclaimed winery nor a recognized growing area. The wine is a mid-straw yellow colour, and presents a very subdued, slatey nose. The palate shows just pure aged riesling fruit, with wild untamed, almost spritzy, acid and minimal oxidation. The weight is balanced towards the front palate, the finish is dry enough to excuse the label. Surprisingly persistent length, and a wine better than we had any right to expect. So, triumph, I guess!

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• 1997 Leeuwin Estate Riesling Art Series

  Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Margaret River

  Labelled 'Late-picked Riesling'. Mid yellow. A syrupy, honied nose. Some aged and kerosene aromas on the nose. Quite a sweet palate, minimal acid which nevertheless manages to keep the wine from cloying. I find some odd smoky notes as well. Again, largely front palate in finish. Not bad at all, but unlikely to improve further.

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• 1996 Maglieri Riesling Willunga Block

  Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale

  Yellow-gold. A voluptuous toasty nose, with plenty of aged riesling smoke/petrol aromas. There’s a bit of musky fruit on the palate as well, but it generally finishes flat and short. Not at all oxidized, though. Very short finish. Hey, it cost $4 when released. What d’you expect from McLaren Vale riesling? Doubtless these vines have been pulled and shiraz planted by now…

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• 1993 Granite Hills Riesling

  Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Macedon Ranges

  Mid yellow. Old fashioned aged riesling nose, with lanolin/honey fruit and a dash of kerosene. Remarkably unevolved on the palate; though obviously not a young wine it remains light and fresh with persistent acid. Very good indeed.

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• 1991 Pipers Brook Vineyard Riesling

  Australia, Tasmania, Pipers River

  A yellow gold colour – quite significantly darker than the [93] Knights. A soft nose of honey on toast, and not a trace of petroleum. A smooth velvety palate, although there is still supporting acid underneath. Lovely dry, slightly dusty, riesling fruit. Not a lot of back palate, but you can’t have everything. Interesting that the two oldest wines were clearly the best of the locals.

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• 2001 Armstrong Shiraz Great Western

  Australia, Victoria, Western Victoria, Great Western

  An interloper in a Riesling tasting! Glowing red. Exuberant nose of peppery, raspberry fruit, with minimum oak. The palate adds a hint of menthol. There are very soft fine tannins – too soft, really, and the reticent acid makes this the ultimate fruit-bomb wine. Not much presence past the mid-palate, and the finish is quite short. At the proposed price of $50 this is not in the hunt. Try $25…

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• 1997 Dr. Loosen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese

  Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

  AP 12 98. The Loosen wine is the palest of straw colours, with a ravishing nose of smokey slate, minerals, and apples. The palate follows, with spritzy, yet gentle acid supporting the rich prominent fruit. All the sweetness feels like fruit, rather than just sugar. Not a hugely complex wine, yet drinking beautifully now. I think 97 is generally regarded as a successful, but early-drinking year. This wine is wonderful now, and will clearly carry on for some time yet.

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• 1988 Fritz Haag Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese

  Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

  Haag’s effort is a darker straw/yellow colour. There is a little petroleum on the nose here, along with dried leaves. The palate has a bronzed sweetness to it, a rich, velvet, but fresh texture – and terrific length. Unusual to find a wine where the palate delivers far more than the nose promises. Barely an oxidative note to find here either. Much better then the previous bottle two years ago. Wonderful, but unlikely to improve – getting towards the end of its maturity plateau, I think.

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• 1995 Miranda Sémillon Golden Botrytis

  Australia, New South Wales, Big Rivers, Riverina

  I seem to be writing tasting notes on this wine every four months… This one is a deep copper colour – almost brown, in fact. Lots of scorched caramel on the nose – it’s all secondary development here. A brassy / coppery palate – the acid is starting to go its own way now. Moderate length finish only. Idiosyncratic, increasingly wild, still quite drinkable, still developing but not for the better perhaps…!

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• 2003 Nugan Estate Sémillon Botrytis Cookoothama

  Australia, New South Wales, Big Rivers, Riverina

  A fairly restrained nose of classic botrytis/marmalade characters. The palate is hugely botrytic (!) – it wouldn’t surprise me to find spores still active here. It’s hugely, overly sweet, with sucrose-infused apricots the dominant flavour. The palate has a certain grittiness which is only emphasized by the lack of acid and short finish. A single-mouthful wine; a 375ml bottle would cheerfully serve 20 people I reckon.

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A mixed night. I don’t think a great deal was done to enhance the reputation of Australian Riesling. Some top shelf Grossets, Orlandos or Burings might have lifted the standard a bit. The best thing about the wines we had tonight was that there was not a corked wine among them. A bloody miracle. Let’s hope it doesn’t curse the rest of the year…