Churchview St John Wild Ferment Riesling 75cl

The purpose of this wine is to throw out the Australian techniques of making Riesling. Why should we focus on precise, steely Rieslings when we can harness intense fruit flavours and complexity? The wine making rule book was thrown aside and we’ve pushed the boundaries to craft a wine of substance, flavour, intensity and interest. 2016 was a challenging year in the Margaret River region. Winds during flowering caused uneven berry set with spring rain encouraging Botrytis, whilst some Botrytis is important for this wine, 40% – 50% in our hand sorted and selected fruit is high. On arrival of the fruit in the winery the team were aware they had some work to do. The berries were immediately crushed and the first 400L (Cuvee) was separated from the balance of the juice pressings. The pressings tank was partially added back to the free run juice to add solids. After 2-3 days this juice began to ferment naturally, until it was decided the balance of sweetness, acidity and texture was perfect. The wine was then chilled to minus 2 when fermentation would stop and then bottling with no additives and only coarse filtration would take place.