Brackenwood Vineyard Botrytis Riesling (Adelaide Hills, South Australia)

Brackenwood Vineyard Botrytis Riesling 2017 500ml (Adelaide Hills, South Australia) "...honey, pineapple, preserved lemon..."

$34.00 $27.95 Sale

Occasional vintages see parts of Brackewood’s Riesling crop affected by Botrytis, with the estate making a sweet wine in suitable years, 2014 the last installment.  Vintage 2017 sees a 100% botrytized wine here, and is this something special.  “The numbers for this are bang on,” said vigneron Damon Nagel shortly after vinification, in terms of sugar and acid levels; fast forward to the wine in bottle and this is a pretty amazing release.  Honey and toast sit over an array of Riesling fruit characters of preserved lemon, tinned pineapple and citrus rind, and despite a fair whack of residual sugar (180 g/L!) the wine doesn’t cloy and remains refreshing and moreish.  Damon felt from his sommelier days that 375mL never quite went far enough, hence this is bottled in a half litre.