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Red Wine

Mt Beautiful Cheviot Hills Riesling 2008

The picturesque Cheviot Hills in North Canterbury are not as yet well known as a wine growing region, even though it is situated between the Waipara and Marlborough regions. In 2004, the Teese family saw the potential of the area, and planted their first vines on their property’s interlaced series of tablelands above the Waiau River.

The Mr Beautiful vineyard was purposefully built to be in harmony with the topography and make the most of the uniform silt loam topsoil, resulting in a distinctive vineyard tapestry of contrasts, colours and contours.

Once harvested, the grapes for this Riesling were whole bunch pressed, with the free run pressings kept separate. The juice was allowed cool settling for only 24 hours to retain some cloudiness in the juice and add to the wine texture. It was then cool fermented using aromatic yeast. The ferment was stopped when the winemaker judged a fine balance of acids and sugar had been reached. The wine was then chilled, racked and aged on light lees for six months.

I remember trying the first Mt Beautiful Riesling last year and thinking that the wine showed good promise for the vintages to come. It is good to see that the 2008 offering didn’t disappoint. I found it to have wonderful aromatic qualities of nectarine and stonefruit with notes of ripe apple and blossom. I found the palate to have lime and citrus flavours with subtle notes of crisp apple. There is some mineral acidity which is well balanced by a touch of sweetness and a lingering finish of lime zest. Those who enjoy medium dry wines will enjoy this easy to drink Riesling

I would suggest trying this wine with a lightly spiced Thai dish, and to me this wine would seem particularly suited to accompany Asian dishes, especially those which contain subtle sweetness themselves. I would expect the 2008 Mt Beautiful Riesling to cellar well for up to five years.

Reviewed by Stephen Clark (20/11/2009)

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