Tower Meadowbank Riesling

Tower Estate Meadowbank Vineyard Riesling 2011 (Tasmania)
8%, Screwcap, $28
Source: Sample
www.towerestatewines.com.au

It seems rather bittersweet to be opening up this wine given that the Meadowbank vineyard was hit hard by fire only this week. Let’s hope the recovery process is a speedy one. The Ellis family certainly seem positive enough.

I’m feeling positive about this wine too, an off-dry Tassie Riesling that satisfies, even if it’s a slightly simple wine. That simplicity is a joyful one though, an essay in clean Riesling fruit.

It’s sugar that dominates this wine from the first whiff though, the blossom, honey and candied fruit of residual sweetness dominating the nose. That sweetness is balanced out by cleansing grapefruit acidity on the palate too, the push/pull of sweet/sour balancing out into a wine that is obviously sweet – yet not over sweet – finishing clean and long. It doesn’t quite have the intensity of an equivalent top Mosel Spatlese style (which this is obviously modelled on) yet the style is spot on.

Enjoyable, generous stuff. 17.5/91