Wine Overview
Howard Park Wines was launched in 1986 with the release of the 1986 Riesling, since this inaugural vintage the style and philosophy of the Howard Park Riesling has remained unchanged. The focus being to source the most pristine Riesling from premier vineyards in the Great Southern region of Western Australia to produce a wine showcasing the best of this variety from this isolated region ideally suited to Riesling.
The wine is selected from only the best batches of “free-run” juice; these wines demonstrate great potential for slow ageing and the development of toasty complexity and greater mouth-feel. Howard Park’s Riesling is consistently rated as one of Australia’s best Rieslings with the three most recent vintages being nominated in James Halliday’s Top 100 Wines of 2006, 2005 and 2004.
The Howard Park Riesling will greatly reward the patient enthusiast with secondary characters beginning to develop after two years and continuing to add complexity for at least ten years. In a recent vertical tasting (1986 – 2005) held in 2006 at Margaret River to mark the 20th Anniversary of Howard Park, James Halliday noted “The riesling is a 100% varietal from six tightly clustered vineyards on the highest slopes of Mount Barker and the Porongurups… the ’86 and ’91 came equal first, the ’02 third.” A wonderful reinforcement to the ageability of Howard Park Riesling.
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Composition: |
100% Riesling |
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Region: |
100% Porongurups, The Great Southern |
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Technical Notes: |
The Porongurup Riesling is an annual blend of the finest cut of free juice from two of the oldest vineyard plantings in the Porongurup sub-region. Both vineyards sit high on opposing shoulders of the volcanic outcrop that dominates the surrounding landscape.
The warm north facing site offers intense citrus character while the south facing site, cooled by the breezes off the southern ocean, provides a delicate white flower perfume.
Each vineyard block is vinified separately in stainless steel tanks. After settling bright, the free run juice is racked before a long and cold fermentation which preserves regional character and delicate fruit flavours. Blending occurs in June of the vintage year, with the objective of showcasing the typicity of each site in the final wine.
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Tasting Notes: |
Glassy, with tints of pale yellows and greens. Delicate scents of white flowers, gardenia and citrus blossom mingle with a hint of citrus oil. Flavours of lemon lime citrus are washed with a shale-like minerality. A defining thread of fine liner acidity provides length and elegance to finish the wine.
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Cellaring Notes: |
In its youth, the Porongurup Riesling is aperitif in style, all fresh delicate fruit, mineral, fine. In time the wine will develop a nut praline and poached citrus richness whilst retaining its linear acidity and stone-like minerality.
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