Cellaring & Vintage Guide
Reviews & Accolades

1999 Riesling

Tasting Date: 22 March 2006

The off dry style, (simply called Riesling) seems to age more sympathetically than the dry style. The development of our Rieslings is classic, but tends towards beeswax or lanolin secondary characters rather than a pure petrol, which I think is probably a good thing. The 1999 showed a great depth and richness in its fruit, tropical as well as lime. Lanolin flavours add complexity with the acid sugar balance looking spot on. This is definitely a drink, as the secondaries will inevitably grow over the next few years and the balance of the wine suffers as a result. However, lovers of mature Riesling may well prefer it that way: there’s bags of life left in the fruit.

1999 Vintage

A very hot summer with many days over 30C resulted in a very early harvest starting on March 27. Large crops probably helped balance this quick ripening. Interestingly, around April 15 (with only a little left to pick), 100mm of snow fell coating vineyards in the Gibbston area, with enough to dust the tanks in Bannockburn – an unusual sight – especially snow heavily laden on the bird nets! Due to the large crop we performed a saignee and made a Vin Gris from many of the Pinot Noir fermenters.

1999 Riesling

Tasting Date: 22 March 2006

The off dry style, (simply called Riesling) seems to age more sympathetically than the dry style. The development of our Rieslings is classic, but tends towards beeswax or lanolin secondary characters rather than a pure petrol, which I think is probably a good thing. The 1999 showed a great depth and richness in its fruit, tropical as well as lime. Lanolin flavours add complexity with the acid sugar balance looking spot on. This is definitely a drink, as the secondaries will inevitably grow over the next few years and the balance of the wine suffers as a result. However, lovers of mature Riesling may well prefer it that way: there’s bags of life left in the fruit.

1999 Vintage

A very hot summer with many days over 30C resulted in a very early harvest starting on March 27. Large crops probably helped balance this quick ripening. Interestingly, around April 15 (with only a little left to pick), 100mm of snow fell coating vineyards in the Gibbston area, with enough to dust the tanks in Bannockburn – an unusual sight – especially snow heavily laden on the bird nets! Due to the large crop we performed a saignee and made a Vin Gris from many of the Pinot Noir fermenters.

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