2018 Polish Hill Clare Valley Riesling
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Tasting notes
Glistening, green-hued straw. Vibrant, sharply focused citrus fruit, floral, kerosene and succulent herb aromas show superb clarity, and a powerful mineral topnote builds as the wine opens up. Stains the palate with incisive grapefruit pith, green apple, fennel and honeysuckle flavors that show impressive depth while betraying zero excess weight. The extremely long, penetrating finish strongly echoes the floral and mineral notes and shows a refreshingly bitter quinine edge.
Critic scores
Average Score
Richard Hemming MW, jancisrobinson.com
Tamlyn Currin, jancisrobinson.com
More reviews and scores
From the hard rock of the Polish Hill vineyard, thin, infertile, silty soils, 460 m above sea level. Planted in 1996, unirrigated, certified organic. The vines produce small thick-skinned berries on small bunches. Dry, low-rainfall vintage. Hand harvested 5 to 9 March, crushed, destemmed, gently pressed and settled at 0 °C (32 °F). A small portion was whole-bunch pressed. Only free-run juice used. Inoculated with neutral yeasts. Six separate ferments according to clone and vine age. RS 0.9 g/l, acidity 6.9 g/l, pH 2.94. Like bitter orange carved with diamonds out of wet black rock. Power and steel and stone. A wine that almost seems to slam into you, juddering through your body. You feel this wine more than you taste it. It’s the structure of citrus, the bones, more than the flesh. Paua shell in liquid form. (TC)
Floral, lime citrus, rock salt and steel. Huge concentration and austere dryness that needs time to lie down in a cool, dark place. Tingling finish. (RH)