2023 Clark Estate Méthode Traditionelle Sparkling Riesling

93 points / 5 stars             Sam Kim, Wine Orbit

Varietally expressive and elegantly fragrant, the bouquet shows crunchy apple, lemon/lime sorbet and white floral nuances, followed by a vibrant palate delivering excellent fruit purity backed by racy acidity, finishing persistent and mouth-watering. At its best: now to 2030.

90 points / 4 stars            Bob Campbell, MW

Pure, vibrant sparkling riesling with oyster shell, lime zest and white wildflowers, A perfect balance of subtle sweetness and crisp, ethereal acidity drives a clean dry finish. A mouth-watering wine

Viticulture

Our Riesling vines are planted on a slightly south facing slope, reducing the exposure to sunlight enough to allow the grapes to ripen slowly and intensify the flavours leading into harvest.  Beautifully clean bunches were carefully handpicked and handled with great care before being taken to the winery.

Winemaking

The grapes were slowly whole bunch pressed to collect the brilliantly clear juice.  Special sparkling yeast was added to this juice to undergo the primary ferment, creating gorgeous steely flavours in the base wine.  This was then transferred to bottle and yeast was added again for the traditional secondary alcoholic fermentation in bottle.  Soon after the bottle fermentation was finished, the bottles were riddled and disgorged to retain the freshness of the Riesling characters.

Wine Analysis

pH       3.04

TA       10.6 g/L

Alc       12.0%

RS       8.0 g/L

The Upper Awatere has all the perfect ingredients for classic Sparkling grapes. Very cool nights leading up to harvest slows the breakdown of the natural acids and flavours are developed over a longer time than usual.  The soil is rich in limestone giving the wine its chalky mineral character.