Sunday, 20 December 2009
2006 Handpicked Eden Valley Riesling
Mr O'Callaghan's approach to the cork question raised an interesting question when we popped the cork on a bottle of the 2006 Handpicked Eden Valley Riesling at Coyotes on a Saturday night. While he's quite upfront about the policy (screwcap for drink now styles, cork for everything else) I'd probably be a bit happier if I could be sure that the closure could handle the vagaries of the northern climate.
Then again, maybe the bottles in question should have gone straight to the wine fridge.
We were waiting for the rest of the party when Nicki popped the cork for us, and a suggestion that she might like to try a sample seemed like a fair idea since the BYO wine corkage is extremely reasonable. If you're going to BYO, after all, it's a good idea to offer a taste.
Madam and I stood back, since we more or less knew what we were in for. The reaction wasn't quite what I expected, however.
Interesting, was predictable, but very lemony wasn't quite the way I'd described the same wine when we'd sampled it at the Cellar Door about thirteen months before.
Excellent. Four ticks. As good as anything we tried in Clare was what I wrote back then. No reference to lemon.
A hasty sniff and taste revealed a very pronounced lemon flavour, a palate that could almost be described as lemon on steroids. Very nice, but very pronounced at the same time. There were still definitely Riesling characteristics lurking behind the lemon, but the expected lime notes were more or less conspicuous by their absence.
Which brings me to the dilemma.
With two bottles to go, do we wait for a couple of years to give the wine time to develop, or do we do what I'd planned - drink both between now and the next Rockford order when I'd be looking at a couple of the '07, based on the description of a lovely varietal nose and silky palate?
As a betting man, I think one soon and one later is a pretty short priced favourite.
