Pewsey Vale Museum Reserve The Contours Riesling 2015
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Parker
Robert -
Suckling
James
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Pewsey Vale Vineyard The Contours Riesling is characterized by a special site, sensitive vine growing and astute winemaking. The Contours Riesling is crafted from old vines grown on the coolest slope within this ruggedly beautiful single vineyard. Bottle ageing for five years before release transforms this Riesling into a complex wine. More richness and complexity will develop over future decades.
Intense classic lemon aromas, with a hint of white flowers. Bottle aged characters of toast, clove oil and lemongrass emerge and combine with the still fresh citrus and white flowers of its youth. The palate has great length and depth with concentrated power and fresh, pristine lime juice overlaid with toasted brioche, sage oil, and lime marmalade.
Enjoy with duck breast and five-spice glaze or tofu pad Thai with fresh lime wedges.
Vegan-Friendly
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The fruit for this 2015 The Contours Museum Reserve Riesling was picked from the Contours vineyard in the Eden Valley. The Eden is elevated above the Barossa Valley, at an elevation of over 440 meters. The skeletal, podzolic soils veritably burst forth with rocks—quartz and granite—among the old, towering gums that sway in the wind... there's something incredibly evocative about the Eden Valley. With all of this in mind, at seven years of age today in 2022, this wine is spicy and enveloping but absolutely remains shackled to the rails of acidity and tension that this region is so good at. At no point through the finish does the fruit waver or deviate from the set path, telling us it has plenty of time left to go yet.
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James Suckling
This has made the turn to a complex wine with intense citrus, lemon-butter and toasty notes in a fresh guise. The palate has a bright, succulent and gently creamy feel with a long line of acidity holding the lemon and toasty flavors long. Drink now.
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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 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.