Grosset Springvale Riesling 2018
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Wine
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James
Suckling
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Winemaker Notes
This is an outstanding Springvale Riesling. Intense citrus aromatics that linger; the palate is taut, even coiled, and powered by intense lemon and lime pith and enticing florals that persist; while the finish is long, zesty, and bone dry. For all its mouth-puckering intensity, there is balance, a touch of restraint, satisfying finesse and an immediacy that appeals.
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Wine Enthusiast
This vintage of Springvale is shining. Simultaneously delicate, dry and fruity, it sings bright tunes of lavender, lemon-lime, grapefruit, white peach, and touches of white spice. The palate feels like licking a lime Popsicle without the sweetness. It’s buoyed by tingly acidity, with a soft talc-like texture and bright citrus right to the end where the spice trickles onto the tongue at the very close. Bright, focused and mouthwatering, this is a joyful wine that drinks easily now but will gain tons more complexity with a decade or more of cellaring. Hudson Wine Brokers. Editors’ Choice
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Wine & Spirits
Jeffrey Grosset followed the soil profile when he planted 15 acres of riesling in 2000 at Springvale, his highest altitude vineyard in Watervale. The vines grow in a thin layer of clay loam over shale and limestone, and, as they have matured, their roots have reached the slate bedrock. He farms the site organically, and rather than fertilizing the soil, he grows a mix of grass and clover between the rows. His 2018, a savory riesling with scents of white tea and roses, has cool citrus tension. A brothy richness works to broaden the flavors, though they remain youthfully constricted, the tight fruit and mineral notes continuing to develop long after each sip. Like Grosset’s best rieslings, this is a wine to cellar, allowing the flavors to develop. It should start to reach full expression around ten years from the vintage.
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James Suckling
A very fleshy and yet fine style with plenty of lime, white-peach and apple aromas and flavors, delivered in approachable mode. Drink now. Screw cap.
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James
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James
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James
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Robert
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Robert
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Jeffrey Grosset, owner and founder, has always been an innovator, challenging tradition and questioning accepted practices. He campaigned to institute the legal integrity of the Riesling grape in Australia, was a leading proponent for the introduction of screwcap closures and privately funded research into the subject.
Grosset Wines’ philosophy has remained steadfast over thirty years. The emphasis is on purity of fruit. The estate vineyards, which are ACO certified organic, are hand tended and each bunch of grapes is harvested at optimum ripeness. The winemaking process is gentle and uncomplicated. With dedication, discipline and the application of knowledge garnered through decades of experience, the result is the finest expression of variety and place.
Riesling possesses a remarkable ability to reflect the character of wherever it is grown while still maintaining its identity. A regal variety of incredible purity and precision, this versatile grape can be just as enjoyable dry or sweet, young or old, still or sparkling and can age longer than nearly any other white variety. Somm Secret—Given how difficult it is to discern the level of sweetness in a Riesling from the label, here are some clues to find the dry ones. First, look for the world “trocken.” (“Halbtrocken” or “feinherb” mean off-dry.) Also a higher abv usually indicates a drier Riesling.
The Clare Valley is actually a series of narrow north to south valleys, each with a different soil type and slightly different weather patterns along their stretch. In the southern heartland between Watervale and Auburn, there is mainly a crumbled, red clay loam soil called terra rossa and cool breezes come in from Gulf St. Vincent. A few miles north, in Polish Hill, is soft, red loam over clay; westerlies blowing in from the Spencer Gulf influece this area's climate.
The differences in soil, elevation, degree of slope and weather enable the region to produce some of Australia’s finest, aromatic, spicy and lime-pithy Rieslings, as well as excellent Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec with ripe plummy fruit, good acid and big structure.
Clare Valley is an isolated farming country with a continental climate known for its warm and sunny days, followed by cool nights—perfect for wine grapes’ development of sugar and phenolic ripeness in conjunction with notable acidity levels.