Mt. Beautiful Riesling 2008

The picturesque Cheviot Hills in North Canterbury, an as yet undiscovered winegrowing area between Christchurch and Kaikoura, had never been home to a significant vineyard before our Mt Beautiful team saw its potential for growing premium grapes.
In 2004, we planted the first vines on our property’s interlaced series of tablelands above the Waiau River to catch optimum sun. The remarkably uniform silt loam Phoebe topsoil means we achieve very even fruit ripeness across the vineyard. Our Mt Beautiful vineyard was purposely developed in harmony with the topography, creating a distinctive vineyard tapestry of contrasts, colours and contours.
Tasting description
This Riesling has a bright, very pale colour with a touch of green and gold. The nose shows a floral aromatic quality with a background of ripe Granny Smith apples. The palate starts medium-dry with a floral pear and apple blossom character, finishing crisp with a lime citrus fruit flavour and good length. This wine will develop very well in the bottle over the next two to five years.
Winemaking:
The grapes for this Riesling were whole-bunch pressed, with the free run and pressings kept separate. We allowed cool settling for 24 hours only, to retain some cloudiness in the juice. This has given the wine good texture. It was then cool fermented using aromatic yeast. The ferment was stopped when we achieved a fine balance of acids and sugar. The wine was then chilled, settled and racked to be aged on light yeast lees for six months.
Analysis at bottling: Alcohol 11.5% TA = 7.4 g/L RS = 11.5 g/L pH = 3.0
Vintage:
Overall, 2008 was a good vintage in Cheviot Hills. After a mixed early growing season that was slightly damper than normal, the weather improved markedly with dry days and cool nights. We used shoot thinning to achieve good fruit distribution and an open canopy, while fruit thinning ensured a well-balanced, moderately exposed crop.
The fruit was hand picked in two separate passes finishing on 17th April.

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