Clean, somewhat powdery nose of crisp fruit (think nashi pear) and citrus, with edges of more blatantly aromatic tropical fruit. There’s a lovely savoury note that seems like flint by way of cashew nut. Overall, the aroma profile is focused and coherent, though its level remains subdued.

The palate is a different story. Explosive, really, even when quite cold. Acidity is the wine’s most immediately noticeable element. Though not especially fine, it contributes fantastic impact and excitedly announces the wine’s fruit flavours. In terms of these flavours, the wine is quite full, with round, intense apple and passionfruit, plus more of that fascinating mineral-like note. This is not a lean wine and its flavour possesses a generosity that translates in part as fruit sweetness, though there’s a degree of residual sugar too. No chance of flab here, as acidity continues to underline the wine’s line and moves things along at a brisk clip. Good thrust through the after palate onto a lengthy, tingly finish.

A really nice Riesling. A long way from the Clare/Eden style, this wine is less chiselled, structurally, but with considerably more generous fruit flavour and weight. Consequently, a wine to pair with robustly flavoured food (we had it with pasta/ricotta/bacon) or to drink alone in preference to highly aromatic styles such as Sauvignon Blanc.

Bay of Fires
Price: $A24.70
Closure: Stelvin
Date tasted: October 2008