wine
2010 ‘Sticky’ Late Harvest Riesling 375ml
Production:
Harvested: 28th of April 2010.
Sugar at Harvest: 14.2 Baume
Residual Sugar: 94.0 grams per litre
Single vineyard wine.
Fruit sourced from Mick Hearnden, Light Pass.
Dry grown
2.6 tonne to the acre.
Total production 450 x 12 x 375ml cases, 150 cases released in Australia.
Philosophy:
I haven’t come across too many people who don’t enjoy a good bottle of sticky if the time is right. Between you and me, it often seems that this ‘right time’ is generally glass in hand- bottle open! I am no different. For me, my epiphany sticky was a 2006 Peter Lehmann ‘Beerenauslese’ Botrytis Riesling. The acid backbone and purity of fruit struck such a chord with me that I guess I have always wanted to replicate in some way my memory of this wine. Over the years since I have drunk and enjoyed many great ‘Stickies’ from Australia, France and the America’s. I keep coming back to the Riesling based wines though, you just can’t beat that balance.
In 2010 the opportunity popped up once again to make another Sticky. The long cool damp finish to the vintage was perfect for ripening the Riesling but unfortunately not so good for producing 'Noble Rot'. The 2010 Sticky only has a touch of botrytis but perfect for a poised, balanced and delicious late harvest style!
We picked the fruit and I left it on skins for 7 days then basket pressed to tank for a long, very cold fermentation. The heavy pressings I barrel fermented in a well seasoned ex Chardonnay French oak Barrique. Once the wine had reached 8% alcohol (leaving a balanced 5 (and a half ish) degrees baume or 94 g/l residual sugar) I stopped the ferment. The wine then spent about a month on Yeast lees, naturally settling before bottling in 375 ml format under screwcap.
Colour:
pale straw gold with still a hint of green clinging to the edges.
Nose:
Lovely Nashi pear with hints of cinnamon and vanilla pie crust complexity over echoes of limes and lemon.
The mouth feel (being Riesling) has a natural acidity that balances the sweetness of the wine and gives a poise often lacking in the more over the top stickies.
Palate:
Rich ripe raisoned apple / pear over hints of lemon zest and bready yeast characters, further enhanced by the barrel fermentation and extended (seven days) skin contact. This gives a firm and cleansing finish that goes on and on.
Purchase:
12 x 375ml bottle case.
