Pewsey Vale Museum Reserve The Contours Riesling 2002
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"Glorious complexity and intensity; has fulfilled all the promises it showed as a gold medal winner at the National Wine Show '04; beautiful line and balance to the lime/citrus fruit, and a lingering finish. Screwcap." 94 Points
James Halliday
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The Pewsey Vale Vineyard was established at Eden Valley in 1847 producing some of Australia’s first cool climate wines. The early Rieslings were exported to England where they won several awards in prestigious wine shows of the era.
Riesling is the Pewsey Vale's single focus and the winemakers' undivided attention goes into making a Riesling that captures the purity of the single site vineyard in Eden Valley where nature is left undisturbed to do its thing.
Pewsey Vale Vineyard has also been formally recognized for its sustainable winegrowing credentials, being amongst the first wine labels in Australia to display the Sustainable Winegrowing Australia trust mark. Launched in July 2019, the Sustainable Winegrowing Australia (SWA) program provides the opportunity for winemakers to benchmark their performance and communicate their social, environmental, and economic credentials with consumers, who are driving the increase in demand for more sustainable wines.
Pewsey Vale is where a true alliance between nature and variety exists, the need for human intervention is minimal. Gentle guiding hands and an understanding of place are all that is needed to create consistent and delicious wines vintage after vintage.
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.
Higher in elevation and topographically more dramatic than the Barossa Valley floor, Eden Valley abuts it to its south and east. While it is a bit of an extension of Barossa, Eden Valley is topographically different than the pastoral Barossa Valley, and is composed of rocky hills and eucalyptus groves.
Recognizing Eden Valley’s potential with Riesling in the 1960s and 70s, producers started to move their Riesling production from Barossa to these better sites where schist soils on hilltops would produce more steely, tart and age-worthy examples. A most famous site, planted by Colin Gramp, called Steingarten, today produces one of the most outstanding Australian Rieslings. Youthful Eden Valley Rieslings express floral, grapefruit and mineral, while with time in the bottle, they become increasingly toasty and complex.
Riesling isn’t the only grape the region can grow; undeniably at lower altitudes Shiraz does very well. Mount Edelstone is a notable vineyard as well as the Hill of Grace, which boasts healthy Shiraz vines well over 100 years old. This is the only Australian region where Merlot has a made a name for itself and Chardonnay can be spectacular, particularly from the High Eden subregion in the southern valley.