Coates, South Australia
Great wines reflect their place of origin, and speak of the grape variety from which they are made. To achieve this goal Coates Wines has a no compromise approach to craft wines that blend the best in Australian and European winemaking styles, to bridge the gap between the fruit-driven Australian style and the savoury, complex wines of Old World Europe. The vineyards used to make the wines that bear the Coates label express purity of flavour that allow regional and varietal characters to be clearly articulated.
The Riesling 2022
There has been a desire to add a Riesling to the Coates range for many years. But with such a breadth of styles within our winery and limited time the project had been on permanent delay. In 2019 it was decided to go ahead and finally add a Riesling to our line up. The established order of the Australian wine industry would suggest the Eden Valley or Clare Valley would be the logical place to source grapes. But Riesling is a cool climate variety with Clare Valley and Eden Valley having a far from cool climate growing season. As such, the fruit is sourced from a single vineyard in the Kuitpo region of the Adelaide Hills (which is where the Coates winery based). A cool climate location ensures that the grapes have an elegance of flavour and good natural acidity that we seek to preserve in the finished wine.
Winemaking
Our winemaking style is traditional with an enclosed tank pressing of the grapes to yield the softest fruit characters. An extraction rate of 500L/tonne was achieved. The Riesling juice was natural yeast fermented with fine solids in six and seventh use French oak barrels then aged for four months (the wine remains unmoved in the same barrels until preparation for bottling). Barrel fermentation of Riesling is far from typical in Australia, but in a nod to the traditional European roots of the variety this technique was employed to provide a hint of texture and softness to the palate. With the exception of a small amount of sulphur, The Riesling is a natural wine with no additives. Bottled unfined and unfiltered in August 2021, The Riesling will be drinking well for another eight to ten years.
Tasting Notes
Light straw in colour, the nose shows restrained tropical fruits accompanied by lemongrass and kaffir lime zest. A lithe palate with plenty of citrus zing with guava and delicious floral notes leading into a long, crisp finish.
Technical Information
Alcohol – 12.5% by volume Residual sugar – <2.0 g/L
Total Acidity – 8.6 g/L Volatile Acidity – 0.55 g/L
pH – 3.03 Sulphur Dioxide – 75 mg/L Total;
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