masterclass: riesling, presented by jeffrey grosset
TRANSCRIPT
Insert activity title here: Calibri 30ptSubheading title here: Calibri 18pt
Presented by John Citizen 24th August 2010
Riesling
Jeffrey Grosset23rd September, 2010
Landmark Australia Tutorial
Riesling Grapes
www.wineaustralia.com/landmark
“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
Blue Skies, Clare Valley
160 years of winemaking in the Clare Valley
www.wineaustralia.com/landmark
For 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
Foreword by James Halliday
www.wineaustralia.com/landmark
Climate Summary
www.wineaustralia.com/landmark
www.wineaustralia.com/landmark
Legends of Soil Zones
www.wineaustralia.com/landmark
Index of Soils
www.wineaustralia.com/landmark
Jeffrey Grosset with Watervale Soil Profile, Clare Valley
Mount Horrocks Watervale Vineyard, Clare Valley
Grosset Springvale overlooked by Mount Horrocks Vineyards, Clare Valley
Mount Horrocks Watervale Vineyard, Clare Valley
Grosset Wines
Gaia
Springvale
PolishHill
Petaluma, Clare Valley
Petaluma, Clare Valley
Petaluma, Clare Valley
Grosset Wines
Gaia
Springvale
PolishHill
Petaluma, Clare Valley
Petaluma, Clare Valley
Polish Hill Vines, Clare Valley
Petaluma, Clare Valley Fruit Thinning, Grosset Riesling Vineyards, January 2009
Petaluma, Clare Valley
Polish Hill rock, Clare Valley
Petaluma, Clare Valley
Polish Hill Slate Profile, Clare Valley
Petaluma, Clare Valley
Riesling grapes into crusher, March 2009
Petaluma, Clare Valley
Petaluma, Clare Valley
Petaluma, Clare Valley
Petaluma, Clare Valley
Petaluma, Clare Valley
Pewsey Vale Vineyards, Eden Valley
Petaluma, Clare Valley
Pewsey Vale ‘The Contours’ Vineyard, Eden Valley
Crawford River Wines, Henty
Crawford River Wines, Henty
www.wineaustralia.com/landmark
Frankland Estate, Great Southern
Frankland Estate, Great Southern
Frankland Estate, Great Southern
Craigow Vineyard, Tasmania
Craigow Vineyard, Tasmania
www.wineaustralia.com/landmark
Grosset Off-dry vineyard