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% Great Southern |
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Technical Notes: |
The Great Southern Riesling is an annual blend of the finest cut of free juice from select vineyards in the Mt. Barker subregion of the Great Southern. The cool sites on our Mt Barrow vineyard dominate the blend. This vineyard is planted on a south facing ridge-top with an elevation of between 285 to 370 m, here the soils are shallow and light over rock with a high component of lateritic gravel.
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 very best of each site in the final wine.
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Tasting Notes: |
Crystalline with tinges of pale straw. Powerful and abundant citrus blossom and freshly zested lime aromatics. Flavours of fresh and lightly sautéed lemon lime citrus and nashi pear provide a rich fruit palate. The minerality of the palate is chalky and a texture of dry citrus zest provides an interesting structural element. A fine linear acidity provides length and elegance to corral the fruit power of the wine.
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Cellaring Notes: |
In its youth, the Great Southern Riesling is abundant in bold bright citrus fruit and tight acidity. In time the wine will develop a nut praline and poached citrus richness whilst retaining its tight acidity and chalky dry, citrus zest texture.
Cellar for up to 25 years but be sure to enjoy the journey.
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