Grosset, `Polish Hill` Clare Valley Riesling
Country: Australia Region: South Australia Vintage: 2022
Category: White Wine Color: White
Producer: Grosset
"For over 36 years, the Grosset Springvale and Polish Hill Rieslings have shown a consistency of style and quality that has made this one of Australia's greatest wineries.
The 'hard rock' blue slate of the Polish Hill site results in wines that are steely and magnificently age-worthy, while the red loam of the Springvale vineyard gives more open and easily accessible – if no less complex – wines. Such is Jeffrey Grosset's attention to detail that he noted a small strip (22 metres wide by 300 metres long) in his Springvale vineyard that produced more generously flavoured wines due to a different soil. As a result, he decided to produce a different wine from this site, Alea, which adds to his great canon of Rieslings.
As the story of Alea illustrates, Jeffrey is fanatical about the quality of his vineyards, all of which are certified organic and are hand-tended. In the winery, each process is gentle and uncomplicated. No finings are used and sulphur is the only addition. By combining a disciplined approach and decades of experience, Grosset consistently achieves the purest expression of variety and place.
Fascinated by the art of blending, Jeff has trialled shiraz-based wines for years, resulting in the newly released Nereus. With just a small amount of Nero d'Avola, it has touch of perfume and freshness, with generous bramble and savoury overtones. It joins the Apiana - a blend of Fiano and Semillon - and his precise and pure Semillon/Sauvignon Blanc, with the latter variety sourced from his Adelaide Hills site, adding an aromatic dimension to the Clare Valley grown Semillon. His Gaia remains one of Australia's best Cabernet blends, while the Pinot Noir is scented, supple and alluring.
Jeffrey's keen interest in distilling led him to make Grosset45, a unique spirit made from distilled Riesling wine. No botanicals, flavours or colours were used, resulting in a pure, clean spirit which reflects the character and aromas of the variety."
Product Features: Certified Organic
Winemaker: Jeffrey Grosset and Brent Treloar
Vineyards:
Located at the base of Mount Horrocks, at an elevation of 460 metres, the Polish Hill vineyard is a 'hard rock' site with shallow shale and a crust of clay marl over slate. These thin soils hamper the roots' downward development, so the vines struggle. Relatively close-planted, a 'modified ballerina' training system provides ideal exposure. The fruit is typically small, in berry and bunch size.
Vinification:
The emphasis through winemaking is on achieving purity of fruit. The winemaking process is gentle and uncomplicated. The fruit was crushed and de-stemmed so the free run juice could be extracted. Fermentation took place over two weeks in moderate temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks, with natural yeast so as to maintain the natural fruit characters and expression of variety and place.
Tasting Notes:
Quite shy in its infancy, though still with distinct chalky, minerally aromatics. The Polish Hill is amazingly intense, showing shaley minerally flavours with a hint of lime juice, tightly coiled around a steely backbone, persistent, deep and long. The finish is linear, crisp and ultra dry yet with impeccable balance.
Food Suggestion: A platter of natural oysters or a dish of grilled whiting fillets with a squeeze of lime.
Closure: Stelvin ABV:12.5% Acidity [g/l]: 7.6
