2003 Riesling The Contours Museum Reserve, Pewsey
Vale
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Cool Pewsey Vale vineyard in the Eden
Valley
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Riesling's comeback is well underway, as befits a
variety of such towering ability.
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So what's so exciting about this grape; a variety
with its spiritual home in Germany, but one that has
spread to all four corners of the wine making world?
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It is perhaps the white grape that produces the most
age-worthy wine
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Perhaps even more than Pinot Noir it has an
extraordinary ability to communicate the character of
the geology of the vineyards in which it is grown
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It maintains, throughout cellaring and whatever the
terroir in which it is cultivated, an unmistakeable
Riesling-y-ness
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The fruit can be made into excellent wine even if not
fully physiologically ripe: one reason for its
popularity in Germany where, in many areas, full
ripening seasons are far from guaranteed
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It has an aromatic and flavour complexity than
obviates - indeed, makes entirely unwelcome - the
influence of wood spice imparted by barrel ageing
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Riesling has met with notable success in the New
World and perhaps nowhere more than here in the
cooler valleys - Eden and Clare - neighbouring that
great Shiraz basket, the Barossa.
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I am drawn to Pewsey Vale wines since we live and
work near the Pewsey Vale here in Wiltshire. Running
east-west and with soil majoring on chalk, I have
often thought I should carpet at least a part of it
with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay vines, subsequently
create a brand of premium fizz, market it to the rap
music fraternity, change my name to Pop Diddy and
retire to he southern Rhône where I can get fat
in peace.
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Pewsey Vale South Australia was, unsurprisingly,
founded by an Englishman haling from Wiltshire:
Joseph Gilbert, who stepped off a boat onto
antipodean soils for the first time in 1839. He
bought land in the Eden Valley in 1847 and named it
after his home.
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Pewsey Vale vineyard sits between 485 and 500 metres
above sea level, thus is markedly cooler than the
valley floor of the Barossa, where sun loving red
varieties hold sway.
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The soil here (for those interested in such things)
is coarse yellow podzol, a suitably unfertile arena
for the growing of fine wine. (Make a vine happy and
it is quite capable of producing "nice" wine, but
utterly incapable of producing something celestial.)
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N.B. This wine is bottled under screw cap. The quote
from the Contours label, ”The winemakers at
Pewsey Vale have for many years been convinced of the
success of the Stelvin closure in preserving premium
wines with long-term cellaring
potential…”
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“Pewsey Vale's Contours Riesling is the
flagship; a consistently outstanding wine released
five years after the vintage to demonstrate
Riesling's ability to improve with age. It is a
selection of the best parcels from a vineyard planted
in 1961. Medium straw-colored, the nose reveals
petrol notes, citrus, lemon-lime and tertiary aromas
from extended aging in bottle. On the palate it has
excellent depth of fruit, vibrant acidity, excellent
concentration, and a lengthy finish. It should evolve
for several more years and drink well through 2018.
92/100.” erobertparker.com
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