Wild Earth North Otago Riesling 2023

Description

Apple, Floral, Off-dry

This crisp and refreshing Riesling has aromas of lime zest, apple blossom, citrus and white pepper. The vibrant palate is juicy yet elegant with lemon, crunchy pear, green apple, and a hint of fennel. Beautifully balanced and focused, it has a long, mineral finish with distinctive acidity that ensures great potential for aging. Enjoyable at release, this wine will continue to evolve for 15+ years.

The Waitaki Valley in North Otago is renowned for its limestone rich soils which give great minerality and focus to the wines. The maritime climate makes the North Otago region different to the more highly planted semi- continental Central Otago region and the unique limestone rich soils result in wines with crunchy natural acidity and distinctive minerality.

The 2022-2023 growing season was a bit marginal with lots of wind in summer and cool temperatures in autumn; however, there was great weather at flowering resulting in a full yield with healthy grapes. It is often true that the more marginal seasons in the Waitaki deliver the most interesting wines.

The pristine Riesling grapes were hand harvested from a single vineyard near the Waitaki River on the 28th of April 2023. The grapes were whole bunch pressed to a stainless-steel tank for cold settling for two days. The juice was then racked and inoculated with selected German Riesling yeast and fermented at cool temperatures to retain the fresh aromatics. The fermentation was stopped at the perfect balance of residual sugar and acidity resulting in an off-dry wine with a long, dry, crisp, and mineral finish.