Lately, I’ve been thinking about wine styles and how some come to be defined as classics over time. In a way, it’s more complex than the literary canon, for example, in which a single, unchanging artifact is evaluated and re-evaluated over time. With wine, a particular combination of variety and region remains static but a whole set of variables — everything from particular vintage conditions to winemaking to long term climatic variations — ensures a constant evolution. So, how to pin down the essentials?

An instantly aromatic wine — one of those that fills its immediate vicinity with smells a few seconds after being poured. There are flowers and citrus zest and all manner of high toned things. Once this aspect of the wine settles, though, nascent bottle aged characters emerge and it is these that form the backbone of the wine’s aroma. Although just beginning its journey, this wine seems to be approaching maturity with determined elegance. There’s no disjointedness to the aroma. Rather, a layer of intense citrus fruit dovetails neatly into hints of toast and beeswax. It’s all quite seamless, surprisingly so for a wine that isn’t yet released to the market. I hesitate a little here because there’s also a slightly blunt character to the aroma profile, a lack of light and shade that, I hope, will appear with more time in bottle.

At 4.2 g/l residual sugar, I think this wine is technically off-dry. It is made from bought grapes by a small, family-run producer in the Southern Flinders Ranges, North of the Clare Valley.

When cold, a restrained aroma that is part delicate flowers and part stone. There is a hint of sweet, slightly tropical fruit running underneath all the high toned goodness, though it seems to duck for cover whenever it is in danger of being fully recognised. Some

A little late to the party with this one, I know. 2008 Rieslings have hit the shelves in a big way by now, but 2007 editions are still widely available.

Pretty aroma of soft talc and lime juice. For those allergic to our aggressively aromatic Rieslings, this may well please. Still, there’s something simple and marginally disappointing about the aroma profile. It comes across as compromised, somehow, even a little bland. In the mouth, quite full with some minerality clawing its way into a core of lime juice. It’s quite full and tends towards tropical fruit on the sides of the tongue. For all that, it’s generously flavoured and undeniably tasty. A softer acid structure encourages the impression of full, round fruit character, but there’s still some sizzly acid to keep things lively. Things die a bit on the finish.

Very much a “drink now” proposition, this one. In its own way quite drinkable, but lacking a bit of bite for my taste. Would be a good choice to serve to a casual, mixed crowd.

Pewsey Vale
Price: $A15.20
Closure: Stelvin
Date tasted: October 2008

Of all the Rieslings made from grapes of the celebrated 2002 vintage in the Clare and Eden Valleys, this wine holds a special place in my heart. For a start, it was one of the most impressive of these wines on release. Secondly, it provided considerable enjoyment to Chris and I while dining at a (long gone) Indonesian restaurant in Glebe. I’ve had a six pack sitting in the cellar since 2002, and have managed to avoid drinking any until now. Great expectations, indeed.
The colour shows signs of development, with richer golden hues intruding into a pale, straw-like tint. Nose is funky. It’s funky in a roast nuts and honey sort of way, perhaps with some vanilla-like notes, even a hint of petrol. It’s a generous, almost slightly fat aroma profile, and most attractive too, although hardly an “ultra clean” aged style. Think toasted muesli and yoghurt and you’ll get an idea of this wine as it stands right now.Entry is deceptively smooth, as it takes a moment for acid to register on the tongue. Once it does, we see an attractive fullness of body (for Riesling, anyway) with dry, slightly chalky acidity. The acid feels slightly harsh, as if it doesn’t quite belong alongside this wine’s nascent richness. There’s more honey, some toasted oats, a little vanilla and spice.  There’s also more than a hint of dry lime, a hangover from this wine’s fresher days. Flavour drives through the after palate with admirable definition, and the wine’s length is beyond reproach.As much as i’m enjoying this, it’s a striptease performance that never quite reveals what you’d like to see.  Unlike those Rieslings where aged and fresh notes intertwine in scintillating conversation, I suspect this wine needs a more complete expression of age to display satisfying coherence and true character. Having said that, all the ingredients are here — intensity, complexity, structure. It’s a wine of quality for sure. I’ll be eagerly cracking another bottle open in, say, two years’ time. MeshPrice: $A25Closure: StelvinDate tasted: June 2008

Second tasting for this wine. The first bottle was a bit disappointing — correct, but somehow generic and uninteresting. I’ve had positive experiences with this wine, the 2002 and 2005 vintages in particular, so I was hoping this bottle would show the wine to greater advantage.

And it did, sort of. The wine’s regionality isn’t in dispute: typically Eden aromas of slate and citrus flowers emerged enthusiastically from the glass soon after pouring. It’s a lovely, pretty nose, perfume-like in its profile and delicacy. The palate didn’t live up to the promise of the nose, at least initially. The entry is tightly focused, leading a mid-palate that at first presented intense but broad, simple fruit flavours that seemed to fight against, and almost overwhelm, the wine’s acid structure. It’s bone dry but the fruit presented as unattractively full, even overripe and slightly oxidised.

After sitting with the wine for an hour or so, though, it has warmed to almost room temperature, and a significant improvement is the result. The palate now presents more complex flavours, with prominent mineral and spice dimensions, that are a true reflection of the wine’s aromas, and that sit better alongside the wine’s quite focussed structure. Flavours persist well through the after palate and ride the bright finish for some time. The lesson being: don’t serve this one too cold.

Despite the improvement, there’s something missing with this wine. Perhaps the flavours are a bit broad for my taste, combined with a structure that is clear but somehow dull. It’s not a bad wine (far from it — were more wines of this quality) but it does lack the “x factor” that I’ve experienced with previous vintages.

Mesh
Price: $A25
Closure: Stelvin
Date tasted: November 2007