By John Rozentals.
I’m standing on one of the highest hills overlooking South Australia’s Barossa Valley, it’s cold and the wind is what I’d call quite fierce, certainly strong enough to swiftly slam the car door behind me as I get out.
Yet I’m as happy as a pig in the proverbial.
I can see quite close up one of the valley’s most renowned vineyards and in my hand is a glass of the dry white produced from its bounty — the Pewsey Vale 2012 The Contours Riesling.
To taste a wine right within the terroir it was produced is a rare pleasure, and I certainly hope that vigneron Robert Hill-Smith and his team make the experience available — at a price of course — to genuine winelovers who visit the Barossa.
To stand on that hill, glass in hand, and contemplate the vines is one of life’s real pleasures.
It’s quite different up here — in what is termed the Eden Valley — to being on the Barossa floor, quite rightly recognised for its rich, full-bodied dry reds made from aged vines of shiraz and grenache.
This is clearly riesling country, something brought home a few years ago when Robert Hill-Smith made the wise decision to pursue no other variety on a vineyard which had been established in 1847.
I relished the experience of my visit to Pewsey Vale, just as I relished the opportunity to sample an aged The Contours, and also the current release of the ‘the ordinary’ Pewsey Vale Riesling and the 2017 vintage of the Pewsey Vale 1961 Block Riesling, made exclusively from the oldest vines on the property.
WINE REVIEWS
Pewsey Vale 2017 Riesling ($26): The wine glints in the sun as I hold it up, and I realise from the first sniff that this is sensational young riesling. Its floral and citrus aromas are as pure as the driven snow, which I know is only metaphorically just around the corner. The wine’s pristine flavours continue on to the palate and quickly form the ideal accompaniment for a couple of fresh oysters or a freshly grilled fillet of bream or whiting.
Tim Adams 2014 Aberfeldy Shiraz ($65): Prices vary, but you’d have to look at about $1000 a bottle for Penfolds 2013 Grange, I think the current release. Tim Adams asks the question, then answers it himself: “Would you rather have a single bottle of Grange or a dozen plus bottles of Aberfeldy? To me, it’s a no brainer. Of course I’d rather have the latter.” It’s a richly flavoured gem of a red, and probably the best-value flagship on the market. It will live for many, many years but, believe me, right now calls out for a rare piece of prime steak.
WINE OF THE WEEK
Pewsey Vale 2012 The Contours Riesling ($38): This provides a taste of the future for those with the foresight and patience to lay down a stock of the current Pewsey Vale ‘ordinary’ Riesling. This aged dry white won’t be at its peak for a couple of years yet but is already showing signs of the glorious complexities and richness to come. There’s an element of buttered toast but the real key is balance and freshness. Match with freshly grilled white-fleshed fish but add a richer sauce than for the current release.
