Grosset Watervale Riesling 2005

The nose took a while to open up. I served it a little cold at first, but warmth and some swirling have brought forth the wine's character. It's quite unusual. Notes of apple, lime and minerally flowers mix with a richer dimension reminiscent of toasted brown spice. It's quite savoury and a little prickly; certainly not an easygoing aroma profile, but pleasantly challenging nonetheless. 

Entry confirms the wine's structural youth, with bright acid the first element to register. It flows nicely along the tongue and ushers in quite intense flavour towards the middle palate. Again, the palate is mostly savoury. That nutmeg-like spice from the nose comes across here as more like kerosene, suggesting the very beginnings of tertiary flavour. Mostly, though, the savouriness is due to a prominent mineral/slate note that provides a foundation over which sweet citrus fruit slowly trickles. Structurally, the wine relaxes as it moves along its line, and deliciously sweet fruit sneaks past the acid onto the edges of the tongue.  A nice floral lift towards the back of the after palate, and a high toned finish that pushes right up to the top of the palate. Good length. 

There's a lot to like here, in particular its fascinating interplay of contrasting flavour elements.  However, I'm not sure this wine is entirely coherent right now and, not having tasted it on release, I don't know if it's going through an awkward patch or whether it has always been this way. I'm certainly not going to write off a wine of this pedigree, or one that shows such toothsome intensity, so I'll make a mental note to revisit it in perhaps three to four years' time. I have a feeling it will show more positively down the track.

Price: $A35

Closure: Stelvin

Date tasted: July 2008