TN: 2013 Pewsey Vale Vineyard Riesling The Contours Museum Reserve

I was excited to get my hands on this. As an American, I’ve had trouble getting finding available Australian Riesling that doesn’t come with a ton of residual in a bottle with a yellow kangaroo (with a big tail) on the front. My tasting note of CT:

“Yowzaaaah! It’s tough to get quality Australian Riesling in the US, so I am admittedly not very experienced with this category, but DAMN this wine punched me right in the teeth! The acid is through the roof, nearly melted the incisors out of the front of my face, and this wine is dry dry dry. I love dry Riesling, especially from Alsace/Germany/Austria, but I think this could have used a touch of residual sugar to balance the insane level of acidity. The petrol is there, but it is of a different quality of the German Riesling I’m used to. Lime, lemon, high toned minerality, and saline elements along with a not unpleasant (though unusual for me) rubbery element. I’m reminded of Ian Cauble’s Riesling tasting note from the Somm movie “fresh cut garden hose”. Honestly, not a bad descriptor for this wine…”

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Riesling needs RS even if it’s not perceptible.

I loved it and gave it 93pts. My jam. But it’s certainly got an austere, briny quality. Think they said hints of Brioche toast in the notes, but I mainly got what you got.

A stupid generalization.

Riesling is one of the best white varieties that can handle a ridiculous amount of RS with ease, but a well-made Riesling can be stunning at <1 g/l RS, just like any other white variety. It all depends on the ripeness and the balance. A cooler-vintage Riesling with piercing acidity and little fruit could really use some RS to tone down the acidity and boost the fruit, but a warmer-vintage Riesling can perform really well with no RS whatsoever if it has enough fruit.

And it also depends on preference. I’ve had lots of wonderful Rieslings that some other people have described as aggressive, too lean and unpleasant. Different strokes.

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Which Riesling that you like has no RS?

Unfortunately I have no winery tech sheets available here and it can get quite hard to browse through ~1000 tasted Rieslings which of them were bone dry. However, there have been many. Pewsey Vale’s Contours Museum Release is consistently an excellent wine.

Was at a restaurant here in Miami yesterday that had it on the wine list, which was exciting. Rare to see new world Rieslings in general and certainly dry ones. Unfortunately, the other people wanted to drink a Sancerre instead, so that’s what we drank. I tried. Riesling hard sell to non-wine people, still.

Probably lucky that you didn’t…most non-wine peeps don’t like getting punched in the face by their beverage.

Noah’s note is spot on, and I feel the same about most of the Grosset and Mt. Horrocks Reislings I’ve had as well.

They are absolutely delicious, but are mostly for those of us with “thank you sir, may I have another” palates and who think of lemons as fruit rather than a garnish.

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Most Austrian Rieslings have very little to no RS, and while I enjoy them a lot I’m more likely to feel they need more acid or lower alcohols than more sugar. Federspiel for me please.

That said, I enjoy a few grams in most German versions and the Aussies probably wouldn’t ruin the wines if there were 3-5g in these producers(for me, for Adam it might).

I’d have to disagree as well. The 2010 vintage of this same wine was impressive back in 2019.

Definitely recommend that you try some Austrian Rieslings from the likes of Hirtzberger, FX Pichler, Knoll, and Prager; Trimbach Freddie Emile; Heymann-Lowenstein, Keller, Wittman, or Rebholz, and report back. If you don’t like any of these, then I can understand that dry Rieslings are just not for you.

Then again, I am generally not a big one for Auxerrois, Cortese, Chilean Cabs, or Barossa/McLaren Vale Shiraz, but there are definitely exceptions. Maybe you’ll find some with dry Riesling as well.

I was able to find some details on Pewsey vale website. for 2013 it was
TOTAL ACID 6.8 G/L
PH 2.90
RESIDUAL SUGAR 0.8 G/L

That RS is low by Australian standards

I would guess that pH is too.

Wow look at those numbers. That pH really shows how acidic this wine is and that RS shows how dry it is. No wonder I had the experience I did!

I think Grosset Polish Hill is 0.9g/l in sugar.

I think Aussie Riesling is about 20 years ahead of the rest of the world stylistically. It’s inevitable that we will all go down this route, they just happen to be there already. Out of all the Aussie Rieslings I’ve tried, only one had any perception of RS. Contrast that to Germany and Austria, where you’re more likely to find a million bucks in the street, than find a Riesling with no perceptible RS.

And here in CA, we’re still flirting way too much with Germany and emulating a style that’s not suitable for our climate. I truly think it’s the wrong path, but that’s just my personal opinion.

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