Reserve Riesling 2016

Dry Grown Reserve Riesling 2019

Wine Companion tasting note.

Rating: 95

Jane Faulkner - Published on 01 Aug 2017

Super dry with a dash of lemon-lime juice, it's also slatey and steely, racy and lean with its bracingly fresh chalky acidity ensuring great length plus it'll be oh-so age-worthy.


VINEYARD

Fruit sourced from our 41 year old 12 hectare Dry Grown Vineyard. Our old vines are not irrigated; something quite unusual in these days of mass commercial production. We prefer low-yielding wine crops with small berries. Although it limits our volume, having smaller fruit fosters an intensity of the flavour, with most of the colour and tannin of the grape being concentrated in or near the skin. The characteristically cool climate of the district ensures slow ripening of the grapes, which also allows for the development of rich flavour and quality grape juice. Grown on ancient gravely loams in Mount Barker, in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, an area renowned for excellence in cool climate viticulture. Our old vines are all cane pruned and yield 2 tonne per hectare with small bunch weights which add intensity of character and flavour. Galafrey harvest their grapes from mid March to late April depending on the season.

 

VINTAGE COMMENTS

A dry finish to winter followed by a wet summer provided some difficulty with pest and disease pressure. Since 2007 we have had so many dry summers I think we all forgot how wet the Great Southern can be. Those with experience and a good up to date viticulture program were able to overcome these difficulties and produce a solid vintage of fine fruit. Again Riesling and Shiraz were stellar performers and continue to prove why they are the best known for their strengths in the great southern. To give you an idea of how much rain we have had this area has the approx. yearly rainfall of 600-700mm. In recent drier years that rainfall has been approx. 500mm. This year so far we have received almost 300 mm of rain mostly during vintage! A testing but solid vintage.

WINEMAKING

The dry, cool climate of Mount Barker is famous for their Rieslings . The Galafrey 2015 Riesling is yet again a stellar performer, and is a reflection of this unique region. Exhibiting chalk, mineral, lime and passion fruit, this much maligned variety is a stand out, serious wine. We endeavour through meticulous viticulture and wine production sympathetic to the vintage conditions to produce a wine that will express varietal characters in tune with its sense of place Winemaking is geared toward producing a wine that is well balanced, lively, well structured, has great cellaring potential and most importantly drinkable.