It started in the vineyard: hand selected fruit from two of Swinney’s oldest blocks, with precise vineyard management employed to eliminate any excessive exposure to the sun. In the cellar, this wine was whole-bunch pressed, only lightly settled and fermented naturally on high solids in tank, where the temperature of the ferments can rise as high as 20 degrees. These techniques are still highly atypical in the world of Australian Riesling. This is the kind of practice that can only work with outstanding fruit, and here it works brilliantly—creating superb texture and discrete complexity. Following fermentation, the wine rested, unsulphured, on its lees for four months prior to bottling.
The result of all this is a dazzling riff on Frankland River Riesling; vibrant and intense yet also wonderfully textural and complex, with a glade of pure mandarin, lemon grass and white nectarine fruit, balanced by a mouthwatering, pithy and briny spine and a potent, driven finish.
Striking pale straw with green hues, the wine is vibrant and intense with jasmine blossom, lychee, candle wax and honey suckle. The palate is medium bodied with an intense and textural pithy, briny, mouthfeel. Mandarin, lemon grass and white nectarine fruits are balanced by cut lime acidity, driving through to a powerful, long finish.
Pale green-yellow hue, the bouquet exceptionally fragrant, with high-toned citrus pith and citrus juice aromatics. A suggestion of gardenia. The wine is superbly intense and refined, mouth-watering acidity cleansing the finish beautifully. There is a faint trace of grip and the wine is remarkably juicy despite having no residual sugar. A beautiful young riesling with a bright future.
96 points Huon Hooke therealreview.com Aug 2019
Lovely wine here. It has a blossom perfume over lime, green pear and green apple, texture is all soft chalkiness, acidity also firm but gentle in a way, maybe some fennel in there as well, and plenty of crunch and pear skin grip on a long finish. Unusually for Frankland River Riesling, really easy to enjoy as a young wine. Really like this. Almost feels Italianate and Soave-like, which is likely a weird thing to say, but there you have it.
94 points Gary Walsh winefront.com.au