2023 Crawford River Riesling - Henty, VIC. 750ml
This vintage was made with 100% whole-bunch pressed fruit to enhance textural depth, largely due to the cool nature of the season. A natural settle in tank preceded a combination of spontaneous and inoculated fermentation - predominantly in stainless steel. After cool fermentation, the wine spent an average of 6 weeks on lees prior to racking, sulphur addition and blending. Bottled September 2023.
Season: 2023 was a tricky growing season. We had a very wet start to Spring and late flowering which then turned into a dry December/January. High rainfall in September made mowing a challenge! Just as we were starting to feel on top of everything in the vineyard, severe hailstorms on the 3/4th of February caused major damage in the Semillon and obliterated the Cab Franc block - the high for those days was 11°C. Very good rainfall in February saved the day and meant canopy size increased, as did vine health, and we happily ripened the small amount of fruit we had. In spite of the season, fruit quality was solid across the board, with pretty flavours and lively acidity.
