Riesling Breakdown!

Clare Valley, a slightly cooler microclimate region just north of Barossa is home of Riesling.  With the recent buyout and local closure of Leasingham Winery earlier in 2009, Clare valley has an opportunity for smaller family producers to fill the gap (of course, the buyout means Leasingham will still be making wines, just not in Clare).  Justin and I went around to discover the differences in the 3 subregions in Clare: Polish Hill River, Central Clare Valley & Watervale.

Justin tastes the sparkling riesling at Paullet's in Polish Hill River area.

Paullet's was the first place outside of the central Clare valley that we tasted.  Noting a remarkable increase in the quality of the fruitiness and finish in the rieslings, Justin amused me by picking up a san-pellegrino-style half bottle of sparkles.

Watervale is a micro-town just south of Clare proper, we flew through it on the way in, but retraced back when we were recommended to taste at Crabtree. 

Kerrie Thompson is the new winemaker at Crabtree starting after the '07 vintage.  Besides making an incredible lemon-curdy '09 "Watervale" Riesling, Thompson produced an remarkable Tempranillo in 2008.  Kerrie Thompson is a taste of the future of Clare Valley, pay attention to her own label: KT & The Falcon.

Justin scribbles tasting notes at Crabtree's stone cellar door

"The Doozie" at Jeanerret blew up my palate.  Holy petrol-honey bouquet of a classic style riesling!  Of course at $40 a bottle, I didn't have the pocket change to load up.  All things considered, 2nd generation (and self-taught) winemaker, Ben Jeanneret, has created a riesling that will curl the tongues of W.S. staff...  Too bad there's only about 150-200 cases of this stuff.  Jeanerret's merlot, "HumMer",  of all things, could flip long-time merlot haters.  Don't be a hater.

All in all, Clare is still struggling to make a name for herself.  Growers aren't getting the prices they deserve for their very low-yielding acres and vineyards are being reduced.

Delicate Wines by Rugged Aussies!

Dan Standish is a winemaker superstar in The Barossa, I called him on the pay phone and he quickly set up an appointment with his partner, Fraser McKinley at the winery that produces Massena and Standish Wine Co. wines.

Fraser, a burly Aussie in a red tank top, greeted us with a friendly smile and a line of fine wines inside their stone house winery.  Standish makes a wine called "The Relic," and we tried the 2007, it had that classic Barossa syrah feel but with a more delicate nature.  I felt like this was a wine that will show perfectly in the 2011 season as it hadn't quite developed fully.

Armed with a paint-bucket spitoon, Fraser enlightened us about the region, making recommendations about where we should go next: Rockford(purchased their 20 yr tawny!), Torbreck & Henske (in Eden Valley, just to the East).  We finished early so Fraser could head off and not miss the Melbourne Cup!