So I’ve pottered on a bit about Riesling, and then a little bit about Australia. So that just leaves me to pop them together and try and work out what to expect from the first week of #NWTW.
Riesling is a grape that doesn’t like it too hot as we said earlier this week, and so site selection in Australia is really important. Luckily those clever guys and girls on the other side of the world managed to find a few.
Anthony mentioned them in his first post of the week. The Clare and Eden Valleys close to the city of Adelaide in South Australia, use the varying altitude of the area to find some cooler sites for Riesling up in the hills. There are also some lovely afternoon breezes running through the valleys to further cool the grapes down.
Also, as Anthony pointed out too, way over in Western Australia (the home of the boutique wineries!) you get a lot more maritime weather conditions (by the sea, so a bit more breezy), tempering the (sometimes) stifling heat. Tasmania is also great area for Australian wine, because it is genuinely cooler and it’s a great place to grow those more heat-shy grapes.
So there you go, the Aussies do make plenty of Riesling, so it’s with deep regret that I haven’t ventured to them just yet. All that’s going to change this week!
It’s funny sometimes wondering whether you want to know what to expect (so you can judge whether it’s a typical wine) or whether you should just drink it and work it out from there (blank canvas). I think if you’re going to do reverse wine pairing (pair the food to a wine rather than the other way around) that it’s obviously pretty essential.
I’m led to believe I’m going to plenty of citrus flavour, some minerality (that wet stone thing that’s mush tastier than it sounds), and high acidity so it’ll be plenty refreshing. I’ve made my food choice on the back of that, which I’ll post about tomorrow.
Until then enjoy your weekends everyone.
Cheers
