South facing, rich soils with slate - floral, stone fruits and delicate texture.2025 2025 Halliday Wine Companion Top 100 - Old Vine Slate Riesling Scored 96 Points by Halliday Wine Companion (Katrina Butler). Read the review. Scored 96 Points by James Suckling. Read the review. Scored 95 Points by The South Australian Wine Guide 2026. Read the review. Scored 93 Points by The Winefront (Mike Bennie). Read the review. Planted in 1923, this is one of the oldest Riesling vineyards in the Clare Valley. It was established by the neighbouring Parish family and has remained in their hands to this day. The rows run east – west, allowing the canopy to protect the fruit from the intense sun. The site is unique for Watervale, as the vines grow over slate and heavy red clay. While most of Watervale is limestone, there are some bands of slate running through the area. Additionally, there’s a bit of iron stone in this block. Given the heavier clay soils over the slate and the very old vines, the flavours of this wine are very powerful to begin with. Over the 5 years we have been working with this vineyard, we’ve realised it requires minimal intervention in the winery beyond a clean and controlled ferment. The wine ferments and matures in stainless steel. Malolactic fermentation (MLF) isn't typically favourable for this wine, so we generally keep it cool. In total the wine spends 15 months in steel, predominantly on fine lees. It was bottled at the end of April 2025 without fining or filtration and with 70pppm total sulphur dioxide added. WINEMAKING NOTES: Vineyard: Parish Vineyard, Watervale Farming: Organic Planted: 1923 Soil type: Red clay on Slate Picking date: 18 February, 2024 Picking method: Hand harvested and sorted in vineyard Processing: Crush and destem Time on skins: 6 hours in press Pressing: Free run only, minimal press rotations Cooling / settling: Cold settled off dirt and heavy solids for 3 days Fermentation: Natural ferment in stainless steel for 2 months Aging vessel: Stainless steel on fine lees for 12 months Filtration / Fining: No Bottled: 01/05/2025 Alc / pH / TA / SO2: 12.4% / 3.03 / 7.2 / 35F, 70T Production: 105 dozen
