2021 Harewood Estate Mount Barker Riesling

We’ve been raving over the quality of the vintage for Rieslings in the Clare and Eden Valleys in South Australia. Clearly, it was a pretty special vintage in the West from the look of the Harewood Rieslings. From a single vineyard in the Mt Barker region, again free run juice only with a long, cool ferment in stainless steel. There seems slightly more green in the colour here but still a lovely green gold. The nose is mineral, florals, citrus and a hint of bath salts and river stones. Serious power underneath but all in balance and all kept well in check. Spices and florals on the palate. Good balance and a lovely lingering finish. I’m sure that this is something which someone who is not a tone-deaf musical buffoon like me could explain better, but what I found really intriguing here was the finish. At the very end of Springsteen’s ‘Thunder Road’, the E Street Band’s “Professor” Roy Bittan on the piano includes a wonderful moment where the sound seems to cascade away. Always gives me

Sherbet and blossoms and lime juice and lemon. There’s a core of spice to this wine without the cooked lime fruit of the Denmark release. the acid feels softer in this wine, more open and with drifts of honeysuckle in amongst the oceans of lime. Pretty easy going sort of wine for Harewood and definitely attractive – I like that line of spice too. By context, the Denmark & Mt Barker feel more open and ready to go, the Tunney & Porongurup are tighter and leaner. Good drinks, all.