Taste
ntertwined with honey, Tropcial and satsuma fruits
Aroma
Exotic and yellow stone fruit
Description
The Waipara Valley is a very special location for Riesling. The warm days and cool nights provide perfect conditions for growing ripe, rich fruit while also retaining a refreshing citrus acidity. Essential to the balance of the finished wine, this palate tingling poise enhances the wonderfully exotic fruit character. Floral notes add charm alongside a medley of nectarine, lime leaf and liquid honey. Off-dry, it delights the palate with its vibrant, juicy finale. The inclusion of a small percentage of botrytised grapes (so-called ‘noble rot’ which removes water from the grapes, increasing sweetness and flavour) enhances the mid-palate weight and richness. A masterful delight that is fast becoming a cult wine in NZ!
***** 5 Stars, 93+/100 Sam Kim, WIne Orbit (2016 vintage)
***** 5 Stars, 19+/20 Raymond Chan, ‘Bright, light straw colour with slight green hues, very pale on edge. The nose is very fresh and finely proportioned with elegantly intense aromas of beautifully refined lime and lemonade fruit along with subtle notes of honeysuckle, white and yellow florals, nuances of herbs and minerals and suggestions of sherbet and minerals. This has great precision and poise. Medium in sweetness and light-medium bodied, bright and intense flavours of lime fruit intermingling with white and yellow stonefruits, along with honeysuckle, musk and minerals form an intense core. The mouthfeel balances richness and a subtle unctuousness wine a very fine phenolic flow and delicate, lacy acidity. The acidity lends poise, tension and precision, and the flavours carry to an elegantly concentrated and sustained finish of lime, honey, florals and minerals, This is a beautifully precise medium-sweet Riesling with rich flavours of lime, homey, florals and musk, along with fine structure and precise acidity. Serve as an aperitif with spicy Asian food and light fruit desserts over the next 5+ years. Late-picked Riesling fruit with 5% botrytis fermented in stainless-steel to 12.0% alc. and 34 g/L RS. Certified BioGro organic.’ Dec 2016 (2016 vintage)
17/20 – JancisRobinson.com, ‘Perfumed, aromatic nose with more than a dash of residual sugar on the palate, which is a welcome feature, though does make it seem oddly soft for Riesling. Perhaps a little more acid would have given better balance, but this is still full of flavour and intensity, so let’s not pick nits!’ Richard Hemming MW, October 2017 (2016 vintage)
Gold Medal – NZ Organic Wine Awards 2018 (2017 vintage)
90 points Decanter – David Longfield Part of New Zealand organic wines to try ‘Bought by Bruce and Jill Chapman in 1999, this family-run estate north of Christchurch is home to 2,000 olive trees as well as 12ha of grapevines – a number of varieties are planted across a range of different soil types, and full organic status was achieved in 2014. A generally good growing season saw some issues with humidity at the end of January 2018, but a good summer with record hot and dry weather before harvest in March. The fruit for this wine was left longer on the vine to develop, and was made using a small percentage of botrytis-affected grapes to intensify flavours. Stainless steel-fermented, in an off-dry style, it has a wonderful nose, classic for a New World Riesling, more tropical than lime fruit but fresh with a low emphasis on the petrol tones, and light honey. On the palate it’s big, juicy, and eminently drinkable, with low-ish acidity and an open and enveloping style. Not challenging, but it gives a lot and will easily make plenty of friends.’ (2018 vintage)
Taste
ntertwined with honey, Tropcial and satsuma fruits
Aroma
Exotic and yellow stone fruit
Location
Description
The Waipara Valley is a very special location for Riesling. The warm days and cool nights provide perfect conditions for growing ripe, rich fruit while also retaining a refreshing citrus acidity. Essential to the balance of the finished wine, this palate tingling poise enhances the wonderfully exotic fruit character. Floral notes add charm alongside a medley of nectarine, lime leaf and liquid honey. Off-dry, it delights the palate with its vibrant, juicy finale. The inclusion of a small percentage of botrytised grapes (so-called ‘noble rot’ which removes water from the grapes, increasing sweetness and flavour) enhances the mid-palate weight and richness. A masterful delight that is fast becoming a cult wine in NZ!
***** 5 Stars, 93+/100 Sam Kim, WIne Orbit (2016 vintage)
***** 5 Stars, 19+/20 Raymond Chan, ‘Bright, light straw colour with slight green hues, very pale on edge. The nose is very fresh and finely proportioned with elegantly intense aromas of beautifully refined lime and lemonade fruit along with subtle notes of honeysuckle, white and yellow florals, nuances of herbs and minerals and suggestions of sherbet and minerals. This has great precision and poise. Medium in sweetness and light-medium bodied, bright and intense flavours of lime fruit intermingling with white and yellow stonefruits, along with honeysuckle, musk and minerals form an intense core. The mouthfeel balances richness and a subtle unctuousness wine a very fine phenolic flow and delicate, lacy acidity. The acidity lends poise, tension and precision, and the flavours carry to an elegantly concentrated and sustained finish of lime, honey, florals and minerals, This is a beautifully precise medium-sweet Riesling with rich flavours of lime, homey, florals and musk, along with fine structure and precise acidity. Serve as an aperitif with spicy Asian food and light fruit desserts over the next 5+ years. Late-picked Riesling fruit with 5% botrytis fermented in stainless-steel to 12.0% alc. and 34 g/L RS. Certified BioGro organic.’ Dec 2016 (2016 vintage)
17/20 – JancisRobinson.com, ‘Perfumed, aromatic nose with more than a dash of residual sugar on the palate, which is a welcome feature, though does make it seem oddly soft for Riesling. Perhaps a little more acid would have given better balance, but this is still full of flavour and intensity, so let’s not pick nits!’ Richard Hemming MW, October 2017 (2016 vintage)
Gold Medal – NZ Organic Wine Awards 2018 (2017 vintage)
90 points Decanter – David Longfield Part of New Zealand organic wines to try ‘Bought by Bruce and Jill Chapman in 1999, this family-run estate north of Christchurch is home to 2,000 olive trees as well as 12ha of grapevines – a number of varieties are planted across a range of different soil types, and full organic status was achieved in 2014. A generally good growing season saw some issues with humidity at the end of January 2018, but a good summer with record hot and dry weather before harvest in March. The fruit for this wine was left longer on the vine to develop, and was made using a small percentage of botrytis-affected grapes to intensify flavours. Stainless steel-fermented, in an off-dry style, it has a wonderful nose, classic for a New World Riesling, more tropical than lime fruit but fresh with a low emphasis on the petrol tones, and light honey. On the palate it’s big, juicy, and eminently drinkable, with low-ish acidity and an open and enveloping style. Not challenging, but it gives a lot and will easily make plenty of friends.’ (2018 vintage)
About the estate
Location
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