Landmark Australia Tutorial Riesling

RIESLING

Jeffrey Grosset

2 June 2009

Riesling Grapes

Grosset Springvale Vineyard, February 11 2009

Grosset Polish Hill Vineyard, February 11 2009

Example of damaged grapes, February 2009

“RIESLING is the great white wine grape variety of Germany and

could claim to be the finest white grape variety in the world on the basis of the longevity of its wines

and their ability to transmit the characteristics of a vineyard without losing Riesling’s own

inimitable style.”

JANCIS ROBINSON MW

FOREWORD BY JAMES HALLIDAYFor reasons unknown, its moderately warm climate produces Australia’s finest Riesling. James Halliday 1994, The Oxford Companion to Wine.  The Clare Valley is one of those special places – if I were a romantic, I would say it is enchanted.  As an Anglo-Saxon, it gives me a small insight into the way aboriginals feel about the land their tribe occupied or, happily, still occupies.  For, in a way I find difficult to explain, I feel a sense of belonging whenever I visit it. It also encapsulates the thoroughly western concept of terroir, the complicated matrix of soil, subsoil, aspect and site climate which determines the suitability of each fragment of land for a given grape variety of varieties.  The influence of terroir can be weak and tenuous, or it can be profound.  In the Clare Valley it is the latter: it is Australia’s greatest Riesling producer, and stands tall with Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec. At the other extreme, it shuns the normally all- embracing charms of Chardonnay.  The little towns of Auburn, Watervale, Penwortham and Sevenhill say more about the nineteenth than twentieth or twenty-first centuries.  Only Clare itself has succumbed, but even it has many fine stone buildings dating back to the second half of the nineteenth century. Many of the wineries have an equally proud history, none more so than the Sevenhill College and Winery, dating back to 1851 and still run by the Jesuitical Manresa Society.  Others have followed the habits of hermit crabs, and happily occupy nineteenth century buildings with a very different origin. Unlocking the secrets of the Clare Valley is a pastime open to all who visit this mist beautiful part of Australia. 

James Halliday – 11th June 2002

160 years of winemaking in the Clare Valley

DEFINING TERROIR & PANGKARRA

- How do we determine if a site is suitable?

Rain

Sunshine

Soil-Water relations

Geology

Terroir

Soil

Vines

Rain

Sunshine

Soil-Water relations

Geology

Pangkarra

Soil

Aerial View of Clare Valley

CLIMATE SUMMARY

SOIL ZONES OF THE CLARE VALLEY

LEGEND OF SOIL ZONES

INDEX OF SOIL ZONES

CLAY LOAM OVER LIMY ROCK (terra rossa)

Jeffrey Grosset with Watervale Soil Profile, Clare Valley

Polish Hill rock, Clare Valley

Polish Hill Slate Profile, Clare Valley

Petaluma, Clare Valley

Pewsey Vale ‘The Contours’ Vineyard, Eden Valley

Crawford River Wines, Henty

Frankland Estate, Great Southern

Craigow Vineyard, Tasmania