Black Estate Damsteep Waipara Riesling 2018

Description

This dry Riesling has aromas of lime, orange blossom, mandarin and wild honey. The palate is dense and textural with salivating white rock minerals. Full, dense and invigorating.

Fruit for this Riesling is sourced from their Damsteep Vineyard which is located in the north east of Waipara Valley at the foot of the Omihi saddle in North Canterbury. This hillside vineyard was planted in 1999 on clay and limestone rich soils. The soils in the Riesling vineyard are very dense clay brown to orange in colour and inter bedded with sandstones and subordinate limestone horizons. This 2.2 hectare hillside vineyard has a vine density of more than 5000 vine per hectare and is planted with GM110, GM198 and GM239 clones on 101-14 rootstock.  It is certified organic with BioGro.

Moderate winter rainfall allowed budburst to occur in spring with the soil at field capacity. A mild frost free spring meant rapid and even establishment of canopies. Six weeks of no rain in late spring brought on an early and rapid flowering. Intermittent rainfall from December through the remainder of the growing season created useful vigour but increased the requirement for under vine weeding, canopy thinning and trimming.  A hot humid summer increased the risk of disease from powdery Mildew or botrytis so our vineyard team worked tirelessly right up to harvest removing leaves and some fruit to create maximum ventilation in the canopies and ensure we could harvest ripe and disease free fruit. Harvest commenced in late March and was the earliest ever for this block. . Diligent hand harvesting was crucial checking that each bunch was suitable for harvest. Growers in the region were very grateful for warm, dry, and windy conditions from March 25 to April 8 2018 that finished off ripening perfectly. 2018 will be remembered as a vigorous, warm, and humid season that was demanding but produced outstanding fruit.

Whole bunch pressed without foot crushing using a long and gentle press cycle. Fermented without settling the juice in small stainless steel tanks and old 500L barrels. Yeast used for fermentation was propagated from a Damsteep vineyard starter. Fermentation lasted for 3 months at between 10- and 18 degrees centigrade then the wine matured on lees for a further 7 months. The parcels were then combined in tank, sulphites added and then filtered and bottled.

Food Pairing: Match this Riesling with grilled fish or spiced chicken dishes.