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Dublin, Ireland
Hi, I'm Dermot Nolan, and I became a Master of Wine (MW) in 1997, and resigned from the Institute of Masters of Wine in 2023 after being an MW for exactly 26 years. I opened a wine shop in Dún Laoghaire, Ireland, called The Wine Library, which closed in 2018, and this is my personal wine blog. I will do my utmost to be fair and responsible in my posts – please read my Who Pays article in re the ethics of wine trips and writing. I have worked in wine education, retail, and consultancy since 1990. I was a Director of the Institute of Masters of Wine (IMW) from 2008 to 2014 and was also a member of the Events Committee, founder of the Trips Committee, and member of the Governance Committee. Having had problems with potentially libellous comments from unidentifiable posters, I now require that if you post a comment, you must identify yourself properly or it won't be published. Please note that I do not review products or services on request so kindly don't ask. I value my independence and I believe my readers (few that they may be) do so also.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Dry white gems

Riesling, why wouldn't you? It's the finest white grape in the world and makes a fantastic range of wines in Germany, Austria, France and Australia. So, this morning with Jeff Grosset (sans hair!) guiding us we had an excellent dozen rieslings.
We started with Kilikanoon Mort's Reserve 2007 and Mt Horrocks Watervale 2005, both from Clare. These showed very well the classic Clare style with the Mt Horricks slightly broader in style than the Kilikanoon. Then two more mature wines, a Petaluma Hanlin Hill 1992 and a Grosset Polish Hill 1984. I loved the Petaluma but the tutors felt it was interesting, though not great. The Grosset was lovely and soft, well mature but very drinkable. Then, well a Leo Buring DWC15 Watervale 1973. DW = dry white, C = 1973 (for some reason, these Aussie chaps use letters for years even though the years have numbers - how odd!) and 15 = Clare. For me, a stunning wine with an incredible length and liveliness about it, even at 36 years of age. This was direct from John Vickery's personal cellar and is probably one of the last bottles of this wine. The generosity of our hosts (in the broad sense of the Australian industry) is quite astonishing.
We then switched to other regions, starting with a Peter Lehmann Reserve 2002 from Eden. More lemon and floral in style with a wonderful creamy texture. Then, a Pewsey Vale Contours 1999, to follow the 2002 from yesterday. Amazingly fresh in style (ah!, the joy of stelvin) and elegant, this is a fabulous wine. But, in case you thought PV had only the Contours, we had a 1980 (!!!!!) Rhine Riesling, also in (Yaaay!!) screwcap. Wow - the palate was fresh as a daisy with a real lemon curd and cream middle palate, and very long. Great stuff.
Then four wines from cool zones - two from Henty (Victoria) to start, then one from Frankland River (Western Australia) and one from Tasmania. The Seppelt Drumborg 2007 was a pale, crisp style, mineral and Alsace-like - a good wine but rather in the shadow of the previous two. The Crawford River 1996 was excellent, with a pineapple nose and long finish. I liked this though the tutors were not so sure. The Frankland Estate Isolation Ridge 2007 had a real granny smith apple style and the Craigow 2003 was almost like a trocken riesling from Piesport, with earthy, smokey notes, pineapple flavours and long finish.
Mmmmm - that's why we love riesling.It ages, it has great flavours, it varies from site to site but stays riesling, and delivers great wines. Australia has a lot to be proud of and riesling is one.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Hi Dermot
I'm enjoying following your adventures and hearing about all these wonderful wines. Do you know of any stockists in Ireland?
Oonagh McCutcheon