Jim Barry Watervale Riesling 2018
-
Australian Wine
Companion
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
This wine is a pale straw color in the glass. The nose has vibrant aromatics of lemon, orange blossom and fragrant floral musk. The wine is driven by a powerful depth of flavor lemon, lime and grapefruit with classic Watervale musk. Its clean line of acidity gives great length and drive to the generous offerings of flavor. The wine finishes with a gentle touch of mineralic texture to round out a mouth-watering, classic Watervale Riesling.
Professional Ratings
-
Australian Wine Companion
Has to be close to the best value wine in Australia in Feb '19. It has accumulated gold medals at the Sydney Wine Show, a trophy at the Clare Valley Wine Show, and a curious two gold medals and a trophy at the Qantas Food and Wine Awards ‘18. Why? Lime juice is frequently the ace in the hole for rieslings in Australia and Germany, but here it's an entrancing display of Meyer lemon and unfolding Granny Smith apple. Oh my.
Other Vintages
2021-
Robert
Parker -
Australian Wine
Companion -
James
Suckling -
Wine
Enthusiast
-
Wine
Enthusiast - Decanter
-
Wine &
Spirits
-
Wine &
Spirits -
Robert
Parker
-
Wine
Spectator
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.