Plantagenet Riesling 2007
11 December, 2007
John Durham is intent on walking a fine line in looking for an extra dimension to riesling. He also wants to make a riesling that is more universal in its appeal.
After a lengthy term as winemaker at Cape Mentelle, John arrived at Plantagenet, in early February, with just a couple of weeks to get a handle on the vineyards of this major player in Western Australia's Great Southern region. He had been enjoying a few German rieslings and wondering whether he could match the structure and flavour profile of those wines with Australian fruit. John was interested in the degree of complexity he could achieve along with fruit flavours in a more floral spectrum rather than the lemon/citrus characters he sees in a lot of Australian rieslings. John sees a trend to pick Australian riesling earlier and earlier; he suggests this decision misses out on fruit ripeness. This brings him to the fine line; on one side the flat, over-ripe tropical flavours as opposed to the greener flavours of riesling on the other.
The wine was made from the fruit of three vineyards, though the bulk of the fruit came from Planagenet's 36 year old Wyjup vineyard. These grapes were picked over a range of ripeness, from 10.5 to 12.5 baumé (a reading of sugar, one degree baumé ferments into one per cent of alcohol by volume). John says, 'it was an education for me to see where the flavours were in relation to the degree of ripeness."
Apart from one significant difference, the wine was made in a standard manner with the determination to preserve fruit flavours. The single variation in John's wine is that he used the first pressings in the blend. Most rieslings are made from free-run juice while John gave his grape skins a bit of a gentle squeeze thereby releasing more flavour and, notably, skin tannin into the wine. The result is a wine with more structure and texture than standard. The technique was applied to each batch across the picking regime. John says it was, "a case of suck it and see. It's treading that fine line trying to make something that was just right."
I found John's Plantagenet Riesling 2007 to be a step up from what has gone before in the Great Southern and be a benchmark for the variety in Western Australia. It's a wine that is on par with the best from the Clare Valley and Eden Valley.
In the winery's tasting note, John describes his riesling as, "aromas of spicy green apples with minerally, slate, lemons and a nuance of citrus blossom. With firm natural acidity in balance by the depth of fruit. Strong citrus flavours with a spicy edge, long finish."
I agree. More than that, however, this wine has unity; a harmony that sets it apart from the pack. The opportunity it presents for increasing enjoyment over many years is remarkable.
The Plantagenet Riesling 2007 has a suggested price of $22.00.