La Vierge Riesling 2015
Another favourite moment during my recent Hemel-en-Aarde visit was discovering that my brother likes Riesling as much as I do!
I finally visited La Vierge winery after tasting and loving their Apogee Pinot at last year's Wade Bales Wine and Whisky Affair. They had me returning to their stand time and again to double and triple check that I'd truly fallen for a premium Pinot Noir.
And what a lovely space it is. You enter the tasting room along an elevated walkway that allows you to peek at their cellars down below. Despite the hushed tasting, due to the Pinot Noir Celebration talks happening inside the tasting room, we really enjoyed the friendly and funny wine steward and their spectacular views of the surrounding vineyards...buzzing drone excluded!
The Wine:
Pale lemon in colour. A medium intensity nose of petrol, lime, lemongrass and honeysuckle florals. Dry, medium+ acidity, medium- body, medium finish of petrol (so weird actually tasting the petrol), lime, green apple and touch of honey. Anyone else feel like they’re sometimes the only person in the room picking up on the terpenes?
Vini + Viti:
Made from 7 year old vines from their Walker Bay vineyards in Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge. Hand harvested from low yields due to poor cropping and rot. Destemmed and crushed at cold temps to preserve the aromas and flavours, 3 hours of skin contact, lightly pressed, into stainless steel for fermentation and further aged on the lees with occasional lees stirring over 12 months. Bottle aged for a further year and a half.
Conclusion:
Balance (1) + Length (½) + Intensity (1) + Complexity (½) = A good wine
Drink now, but potential for much further ageing.
Final Thoughts:
We ended up drinking this for my brothers birthday breakfast...just goes to show that Riesling is acceptable at any hour! The acidity cuts straight through the fattiness of the bacon and eggs.
Tasted on a flower day according to the Biodynamic Calendar for the SH.
