2018 Spinifex Riesling, Eden Valley

Around three years ago Pete and Magali purchased a mature (est. 1956) vineyard in Eden's Flaxman Valley. It's around 4-hectares planted roughly to one-third Riesling and two-thirds Shiraz. The duo are intending to plant some bush vine Grenache and Shiraz down the line, but that's for a later story. The vineyard is dry-grown, on poor soils (degraded, thin granitic sands), and at an altitude of 475 - 495 metres above sea level.

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All hand harvested at crazy low yields for Riesling (0.8-tonnes per acre), Schell fermented 25% of the grapes on skins for seven or eight days while the balance was crushed, old school style and spent about eight hours macerating, stems and all, before being pressed. 10% of the wine was fermented and aged for six months in old French oak (500-litre), while the rest went to tank. In both cases the wine spent six months on lees. There was no yeast additions, no acid either, partial malolactic, and no filtration completing the wine's home-schooling. Although there is real intensity and texture here, there is also great finesse. It's a serious class act and as good an Australian Riesling we've tried this year. We say that every year, but where there's smoke there's often fire!