Global Warming doesn’t make Fine Wine
My favourite wine is Australian Riesling, from the Clare and Eden Valleys. Half my cellar is full of them, going back many years.
I’ve said before that I found the 2014s almost universally short on the finish, and the 2015s rich, ripe, round and forward reflecting the hot year. Classic Rieslings from these two areas have long lines of fine acid that keeps the intense, ripe limes in check and ensure a long, clean, dry finish. This backbone also ensures a long life, as green-tinged, zippy, vibrant youth mellows into a more golden tune that rewards you with notes of honey and buttered toast.
I have more Pewsey Vale in my cellar than any other Riesling. I’ve been drinking this Eden Valley nectar since the late sixties, and it’s become a kind of beacon that I judge other Rieslings by. It remains affordable, even though its quality has reached new heights under Yalumba’s chief winemaker Louisa Rose in the last 15 years.
2015 – Vintage of the Decade or big a let-down?
As usual, I tasted a bottle of PV 2015 not long after it was released and found it ‘ripe and forward and lacking the finer things we’ve come to expect from this wine.’ I quote my review from July to have a point of reference here. I didn’t buy any of it, for the first time in years.
I’m on the mailing list of Winestar, a retail website run by Bert Werden in Melbourne. Bert tends to sell his wines pretty hard, quoting anybody and everybody who’s said good things about them, from reviewers and judges to the pope’s sommelier and the lady at the local pub’s bottle shop.
This week, Bert extolled the virtues of the Pewsey Vale 2015, waxing lyrical about the wine being ‘a classic example of dry Eden Valley Riesling … with intense fruit aromas of talcum and lemon lime fruit … the palate shows great length and depth with limes, a hint of pineapple, white flowers and fresh rosemary. The wine finishes with a fresh natural acidity which balances the flavour intensity and a minerality that will reward medium to long-term cellaring.’ I ignored Bert’s sales pitch as usual but soon stumbled over the stellar scores of various reviewers
- 95 – 96 Points – Nick Stock
- 95 Points – James Halliday
- 95 Points & Gold Medal – Royal Queensland Show
- 94 Points & Wine of the Week – Chris Shanahan
- 94 Points – Tyson Stelzer
- 93+ Points – Campbell Mattinson, Winefront (I added this)
Nick Stock says: ‘I cannot remember a year that was as good across the board as 2015. The big early story is riesling, and there is no doubt that the 2015 rieslings from the elevated Eden Valley are very strong … Very pure lemons and limes here that are concentrated, stony and fragrant. There’s very pure fruit focus here, as this has the right balance of acid and texture. It’s smooth, fleshy, dense, really deep and will drink early and live long.’ 95-96 Points
James Halliday says the wine is ‘tightly knit, its citrus and apple flavours anchored on a bedrock of minerally acidity. On a hot summer’s day this will shine, but it also has plenty in reserve for the next 5 years. Drink To: 2030. 95 Points.’
‘Yes,’ says Campbell Mattinson.’ Makes a very enticing pitch. Floral aromatics, limey palate, input from bath salt and spice notes, and the epitome of purity to close. Mid-level intensity but upper-level length. In a good place. 93+ points.’
Some Wines are like old Friends
There was only one way to answer that question: buy another bottle and get a second opinion. I was prepared to be wrong, you have to be in this game or you end up in a bad place. I was wrong only because I like the wine less than I did back in July when I said what I said above but scored it 91 and gave it a BUY for short term drinking, perhaps out of respect for its proud lineage.
I can only conclude that I fell into an old trap: certain wines are like old friends. You don’t see their faults because you love them for their virtues. I see it with Hunter Semillons all the time: reviewers smell these wines and their eyes light up as they recognise the old friend they’ve grown to love since they were novices cutting their teeth at Len Evans’ Rothbury Estate dinners.
I can’t remember a Pewsey Vale Riesling that was less true to style than this bottle of 2015 in front of us. The nose was the exception, promising limes and talc but the palate delivered ripe, almost tropical fruit on a flabby palate with a short finish. I couldn’t even justify 90 points, so I asked my partner Tracey who has a great natural palate.
By that I mean she’s very good at picking the variety when I shove a glass in front of her, and usually spot on with her one-line assessments. Tracey didn’t even pick the wine as a Riesling, and her take on it was similar to mine: the wine left the heights unscaled. We shared most of the bottle with our meal, and the wine didn’t improve.
Sticking my neck out
So who am I to blow against the wind, I ask myself once again. Most of the guys cited above are professional s who do this for a living. I only do this in my spare time. OK, I taste wine in a different way: with food and without food, over several days, often sharing it with wine-loving friends. It’s not just Pewsey Vale. I’ve tried many others from 2015 – Jim Barry, John Vickery and more. There are exceptions such as O’Leary Walker and Eden Hall. They must’ve picked earlier.
‘I cannot remember a year that was as good across the board as 2015,’ says Nick Stock, ‘… the big early story is Riesling …’ I couldn’t disagree more: I cannot remember a year that made less classic Rieslings in the Clare and Eden Valleys as 2015. Most of the wines are forward and obvious and lack the finer nuances we treasure in our best Rieslings. 2012 and 2013 were the great Riesling years of this decade. I bought a lot of them, but I wish I’d bought more.
Kim