Tasting description
This Riesling has a bright, very pale colour with a touch of green and gold. A deeply floral wine, Mt Beautiful Riesling 2009 has a fragrant nose of lime trees in bloom with a background touch of honeysuckle. The palate is off-dry with mouth-watering citrus and rose petal flavours, finishing with a ripe apple crispness and good length. This wine will develop beautifully in the bottle over the next two to five years.
Winemaking
The grapes for this Riesling were whole-bunch pressed, with the free run and pressings kept separate. We allowed cool settling for 24 hours only, to retain some cloudiness in the juice. This has given the wine good texture. It was then cool fermented using aromatic yeast. The ferment was stopped when we achieved a fine balance of acids and sugar. The wine was then chilled, settled and racked to be aged on light yeast lees for six months.
Analysis at bottling: Alcohol 12.5% TA = 7.0 g/L RS = 13.5 g/L pH = 3.03
Vintage
Overall, 2009 was an excellent vintage in Cheviot Hills. After a very good, even flowering, the weather was fine and warm throughout summer. We used shoot thinning to achieve good fruit distribution and an open canopy, while fruit thinning ensured a well-balanced, moderately exposed crop. This resulted in an earlier vintage than usual.
Our fruit was hand-picked in two passes on 7 and 9 April 2009, at optimum flavour development and ripeness.
Food match
Mt Beautiful Riesling 2009 is best enjoyed as an aperitif, or with delicate Asian food.
Other Vintages
Mt Beautiful Cheviot Hills Riesling 2008 (on allocation)
Mt Beautiful Cheviot Hills Riesling 2007 (sold out)
