Another riesling review for the week

It's been an amazing week for us so far. The last of the stock of our Silver Medal winning 2005 Barossa Shiraz was ordered this morning and next week will be heading over to the east coast of Australia. It's a wonderful thing to see orders coming in with the economic climate the way it is and it certainly helps to keep us afloat. There's not many words that inspire us to carry on with making our miniscule amounts of wine than the ones "Sold Out". When we started selling our wines I initially thought that it couldn't be too hard to sell only 350 cases of wine a year but how wrong I was! There's a lot of wine on the market and to get such a small name like ours even noticed by people can be a near impossible task. So to now be able to add the Sold Out stamp to three of our products is truly a wonderful thing.

On another note, here is our second riesling review for the week: http://fullpour.com/2009/05/karra-yerta-eden-valley-riesli.html - from Julian Coldrey's website www.fullpour.com

Karra Yerta Eden Valley Riesling 2005

"Is it possible to know a vineyard after tasting its output only twice? Hardly, or at least not in every respect. But those sites of special interest are so partly because they impart a particular character, hopefully attractive, to the wines made from their fruit. A truism, perhaps, and something of an abstract religion to those who place importance in the idea of a goût de terroir. Yet how striking when you have a real, live example in front of you, as I have this evening.

I tasted the 2008 version of this wine the other day, and enjoyed its accord of soft, elegant fruit and Eden minerality. And what strikes me instantly on smelling this older wine is the same beautiful character of fruit; pastel, watercolour, gauze-like fruit. That's the Karra Yerta vineyard, surely, in my glass now just as it was the other night. Perhaps this seems obvious and trite, but I consider it a marvel on a small scale, something essential and beautiful.

The palate is a slightly more austere, marginally aged, version of the younger wine, which is as it should be. There's a fantastic thrust of acidity that picks up on entry and carries the wine right through its impressive finish. Along the way, tart lime juice, left-of-centre minerality (it reminds of white Burgundy, for some reason) and more of that distinctively elegant fruit, more like a painting of a white peach than the fruit itself. A nice surge of intensity through the middle palate fits within the wine's architecture rather than spilling outside it. There's no great influence of bottle age bar a touch of honey.

A truly excellent Riesling that is about the Eden Valley, the Karra Yerta vineyard and the season in which it was grown. For those with an interest in terroir, I would advise to rush out and buy some -- if it weren't already sold out."

Karra Yerta Wines
Price: $A25
Closure: Stelvin

Posted by Julian on Wednesday, May 27, 2009 at 2:49 AM

Filed in Australia, White

A Winter Wine Event - watch this space!

This blog entry is to give you advance notice of a special event that will be happening in the Barossa on the last weekend in June. Some of you may be planning to visit the Barossa this winter (what better time for a Barossa Shiraz??) so if you are, please make a note in your diary so that you may attend a very exciting and indeed enticing new event.

The Barossa Wine and Tourism Association has come up with a new concept called Barossa At Home. The idea is for wineries to open their homes to limited numbers of guests (ten per winery) for a personalised evening of Barossa food and wines. Guests will have the opportunity to meet and speak with the people behind the wines. In our case, you will be dining with the three winemakers from the three wineries involved.

We are planning on having a combined dinner party at Karra Yerta with two of our three Collective offsiders: Gumpara Wines and Kurtz Family Vineyards. At this stage, and it is early days, we are looking at having three tables of nine guests with one of the winemakers at each table (we are allowed to have more guests as there are three wineries joining up for the event). A delicious home-cooked four-course feast will accompany our splendid range of wines and any wines that we produce that are not on the menu (food and wine matched) will be available for tasting on the night.

Please email me if you would like to be kept up to date with this event. I will also post information on this blog as it is finalised.

The 2009 crush has begun!

Yesterday, Monday 9th March, was our first official day of vintage. In my blog entry of Wednesday 4th March I wrote that it appeared we would be picking our Eden Valley Riesling before the Barossa Shiraz but vintage is an unpredictable thing which changes daily. I was wrong in that assumption. The baume of the riesling was not quite where we wanted it (maybe due to the really cold nights we have been having out here in the hills the past week) so the 2009 Barossa Shiraz was the first to hit the crush.

Despite the horrific heatwave five weeks ago, the shiraz grapes ended up being in great condition which is a huge relief. The fruit tastes superb and the colour is amazing. It may be our best crop of Barossa Shiraz ever. All in all, we picked 1112kg and as I write this blog entry it is in the beginning of its processing at Biscay Road Vintners (run by Pete Schell, Spinifex and Jason Schwarz, Schwarz Wine Company) in Bethany. It is a very exciting time; especially because we have such a talented winemaker as Pete taking charge of things, not to forget Jason's knowledgable input as well.

As James and I both work other jobs as well as run the business and do the majority of the vineyard work, we now find ourselves in a position where there are just not enough hours in the day. James generally tends to the red wines (all are made at Biscay Road Vintners) on a daily basis initially until most of the major work is done and as of next week I assume, I will be trying to have as much input as possible at Rocland Wines in Nuriootpa where our riesling will be processed under the watchful eye of our favourite big guy, Peter Gajewski.

The next month will no doubt be a blur of being here, there and everywhere but it is always well worth it. Let the fun begin!

When it rains..... it's picking time!

After 80 days of not even a drop of rain, a few days ago we were all relieved to see the clouds finally break. Of course, in the back of our minds was the hope that if it was raining here perhaps in a few days time the same clouds would reach Victoria and put at least a little dampness on what remained of the ferocious fires that claimed over 200 lives. According to today's news, that is exactly what happened so there is much to be thankful for.

What the rain also meant was that suddenly there was the threat of split skins on the severely dehydrated grapes that had endured not only the rainless 80 days but also the week or two of horror temperatures hovering around the low to mid -forties (degrees celcius). The poor skins had shrivelled so much that even minimal moisture had them bursting at the seams. On the whole, whilst it is a problem, it is minor compared to many others that vignerons have faced country-wide and we will still produce a 2009 vintage which is more than some.

So tonight as I heard the ute with trailer in tow rattling up the gravel driveway, grape bins strapped to the back, I knew it was only a matter of days before we would be heading up to the high hills to start our grape-picking season. Ironically I thought we would be starting with our Barossa Shiraz from down on the Valley floor but at this stage it appears the Eden Valley Riesling will be the first to "come off". In any event, as always, it will be a huge relief to get the crops off and the wines processed. I will be uploading photos and hopefully videos of this years processing in the coming weeks.