Vinoculation

A single vineyard wine from the Fletcher Vineyard on the Wairau Plains in the heart of Marlborough. At 9% alc, it’s an off-dry style from a vintage that suffered from poor flowering followed by an ideal late summer and autumn, resulting in bunches with low berry numbers of intense concentration.

It has the quintessential NZ Riesling nose; pure citrus spectrum fruit, hints of minerality, blossoms and a crumb of toast alluding to its age. Fresh out of the bottle, the acidity was green apple tangy, almost to the extent of overpowering the sugars, but three glasses on into the afternoon, the wine had really evolved to the point of ultimate balance (perhaps helped by a slightly warmer serving temperature).

Lots of ripe tangelo and orange on the palate, with that vein of acidity cutting into the sweetness and leaving a crisp, fresh finish with fruit sweetness rather than sugar sweetness. With a persistent, slightly astringent finish (in a good way), it’s a class wine that would effortlessly push another decade on the wine rack.

Sublime with breakfast burritos, but even better with mussels in chilli and garlic vinegar.