Spinifex Riesling 2021

Around five years ago, Pete and Magali purchased the four-hectare, mature (est. 1945), dry-grown Rostein vineyard in Eden’s Flaxman Valley, which is planted to roughly one-third Riesling and two-thirds Shiraz. The soils are lean, degraded granitic sands and the vineyard sits at an altitude of 475 to 495 metres above sea level. There are two parcels of organically-managed Riesling—one planted in 1945, the other in 1956—and this cuvée is made predominantly from the 1956 section.

The fruit was hand harvested at crazy-low yields for Riesling: a paltry 0.8-tonnes per acre. This year the entire harvest was chilled overnight, then crushed, and spent about two hours macerating before being pressed. The press wine was fermented and aged for six months in used French oak (500-litre), while the rest went to tank. In both cases, the wine spent four months on lees prior to racking and assemblage. There were no yeast or acid additions, and partial malolactic.