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If there was ever (in my book) a true king of the whites, it is Eden Valley Riesling! True to type this Eden Valley Riesling is chock full of big limes and lemons, with hints of ruby grapefruit and marmalade. The 2012 Cellar Release Eden Valley Riesling has now spent a lucky 13 years getting ready to re-emerge and the wait has been well worth it!
Hearnden: Picked 1.68 tone 6th of March 2012,
Bartholomaeus: Picked 2.4 tonne 15th of March 2012,
384 bottles Re-released from the cellar Mid February 2025
Very Bright Rich Golden Straw Summer Grass.
Upfront toasty developed notes weaving around lemons and limes supported by lifted perfume of lemon thyme jasmine and dry summer grasses with hints of juniper and aromatic dried herbs
Firm crisp and juicy with Lovely toast complexity & beautiful balancing acid that gently grips the cheeks. Combination of assertive citrus melded with ripe limes and clear lemon countered against hints of dried herbal leaves and yeast complexity. The rich clean palate lingers on beautifully leaving the mouth ready for the next sip.
If there was ever (in my book) a true king of the whites, it is Eden Valley Riesling! Riesling is one of the physically toughest varieties on the planet, yet it is capable of producing some of the most subtle wines you will ever come across. You only need look at the thin layer of loam, coating the underlying granite of the Eden hills and the way the vines thrive to see my point. The are bloody Tough! All that aside, the true worth of the variety is as it should be, in the drinking. The 2012 Eden Valley Riesling fits the bill here to excess. It won't ever see the show circuit but rather is destined to spend its life making meals and lazy afternoons a much better place to be.
Although I try to grow every grape I use for my wines, not having any old Eden Valley Riesling vines handy meant that I had to find a source. As luck would have it, a good mate who lives across the road from my brother Phil, and a mate of his from down the road had some fruit that more than fit the bill. Mick Hearnden lives on a property out the back of Eden Valley. He has no formal water supplies and has to rely on natural rainfall to supply him with all he uses. Mark Bartholoumaus has a block of old vines in the heart of the Eden Valley Township that has been reliably producing fantastic fruit for over 50 years.
The fruit from Mick's block is always a revelation. Where most other Eden Valley Riesling tend towards the big limes and lemons, Mick's for some reason is always ruby grapefruit and marmalade. Maybe it's the soil, maybe the clone... I don't really mind which, because the fruit is always awesome!
This is the first time I’ve used Mark’s fruit and the incisive structure, limes and citrus are a perfect compliment to Micks aromatic fruit. Although i’ve stepped beyond the single vineyard... I have to admit that the whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts.
So in 2012 I sourced roughly one and a half tonne from Mick and two and a half tonne from Mark. This wonderful fruit (at around 12.5 baume) was whole bunch pressed. The unclarified free run was cold fermented for around a month in stainless and the pressings barrel fermented. six months on un-stirred yeast lees followed before the wine was racked to clear and finally bottled in November 2012. It's delicious, light and perfect just on its own in a glass!
