Pewsey Vale lives up to hype
Thrill-seeking white wine lovers should try intense, crisp Australian Riesling
The Pewsey Vale Vineyard isn’t just the source of zesty and delicious Rieslings; it’s also a case study for dedicated wine growing.
Riesling is the only grape grown in Pewsey Vale, one of the most famous vineyards in South Australia. The marketing slogan proclaims: “One vineyard, one variety, one vision.” Believe the hype. That unwavering focus delivers some of the world’s best expressions of the grape, spread across three labels (soon to be four with the addition of the 1961 Block Riesling from the 2017 vintage), made each vintage.
In 1847, Pewsey Vale was the first vineyard planted in the Eden Valley, which is sometimes referred to as the high or upper Barossa. Unlike the warm conditions on the valley floor that yield some of the world’s most flavourful and intense Shirazes and Cabernet Sauvignons, Eden’s higher elevation conditions produce lighter, brighter styles of red and white wines. It’s deemed to be the ideal condition for Riesling, as well as Chardonnay.
The Pewsey Vale vineyard was abandoned about the time of the Great Depression. The site’s undulating hills were used for livestock grazing until 1961 when a group including Wyndham Hill- Smith looked to revitalize the vineyard.
Using cuttings from the original vines, they planted 56 hectares of vines, contouring the rows to the landscape. What remains of these old vines is harvested for limited edition reserve wine called The Contours Riesling. It’s also one of the most photographic vineyards in Australia. More recent plantings contributed to the Eden Valley Riesling, which represents the lion’s share of the production and can be counted on to deliver the classic lime and honeysuckle character that is a signature of the region.
Australian Riesling is more intense and crisp — racy is the term wine geeks use — than the typical styles produced at Canadian or German wineries. There isn’t ripe peach or a honeyed character to soothe the marked acidity, which makes these wines a shock to the system for some.
But thrill-seeking white wine lovers should try it and see what they think. To my taste, Pewsey Vale is consistently one of the world’s best white wines. It’s not a wine we’re lucky enough to see very often, which is why it’s exciting to see it return to LCBO Vintages outlets as part of the Feb. 3 release.