2016 Clos Clare Museum Release Watervale Riesling, Clare Valley

Almost cumin spiced top note over lemon barley, lime and lillies. Intense acidity and burst of lemon/lime flavour, firm chalky texture, a sort of lavender perfume wafting in the finish, but it’s mouth-watering in the main, and quite powerful. Good wine this vintage, though I’d say it needs a couple of years to soften.

94 points Gary Walsh for The Wine Front, November 2016

This is a Museum Release of the 2016 Clos Clare Watervale Riesling, cellared at the winery for a belated release as a ten-year-old mature wine. We’ll add tasting notes for the wine as soon as we get our hands on the bottles!

Clos Clare has its origins as a sub-division of the historic Warilto homestead, also home to the famed Florita vineyard in the Watervale subregion of Clare Valley. Local legends from Leo Buring to Tim Knappstein, Jeffrey Grosset and Nick Walker have all contributed to Clos Clare’s reputation as one of the region’s most characterful Rieslings.

Its current custodians are Tom and Sam Barry, grandsons of Clare Valley pioneer Jim Barry and the third generation of a family that has shaped this region for decades. The brothers bring the same instinct for site and variety that runs through their family’s history, but through their own voice and new ideas. Tom studied oenology and worked vintages with Erni Loosen in the Mosel and Bert Salomon in the Kamptal before returning to Clare.