2021 Castle Rock Estate ‘Diletti’ Riesling

$36.00

Made with only the free run juice, the wine is filled to to puncheons and barriques to ferment with varying amounts of juice solids (cloudy juice). It remains on lees for nine months to build texture and complexity around the tight riesling structure, while retaining its ‘riesling’ DNA.

 

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Tasting Notes

Colour: Bright, pale lemon.

Bouquet: Nose is more subdued due to barrel maturation but a perfume of rich florals, honeysuckle with soft mealiness still persists.

Palate: Extended lees contact during barrel maturation has produced a weighted palate that is textually rich but still exhibiting great length, driven by classic Riesling acid structure. This lees texture and acid balance make a sup-ple mouthfeel with amazing balance. Flavours sit in a richer spectrum than the other CRE Rieslings, with lemon curd intertwining with restrained barrel ferment funk. Time in oak has made the wine approachable while young but will reward careful cellaring, up to 10 years.

Food Accompaniment: Pair with meals such as Caramelised Onion tart, Quiche, Roast Chicken and Oily Fish.

Cellaring Potential: Up to 10 years.

 

98 Points “Free run juice is fermented in puncheon and barriques. The bouquet gives hints that are transformed on palate with its operatic trumpets of flavours circling the ultra-intense lime/lemon core. One of the most spectacular young Australian rieslings I have encountered. That length, that power.” James Halliday, The Australian newspaper, July 2022

95 Points “There’s character to this riesling; it’s not cookie-cutter. It’s citrussy, slatey and hay-like but from there it gets more difficult to describe, though it has something tonic-like to it. It boasts both body and length, or perhaps power and persistence is a better way to say it, though it somehow still manages to feel finessed, even delicate. Drink: 2023-2029” The Winefront, Campbell Mattinson

93 Points “Well this is a fascinating wine for Rob Diletti & family. The Castle Rock Estate Diletti Riesling 2021 is a barrel-fermented and matured take on the usual house style, with a pitch to take Porongurup Riesling to another level. The result isn’t necessarily an easy, fresh life invigorating drink like the rest of the Castle Rock Riesling range, but there is much interest here. You don’t see the barrel influence per se, but it does tone down the aromatics a smidgen. The main game here is the palate, which is like a wall of ultra-concentrated grapefruit. Gee there is some latent, power in there (and no shortage of acidity). Yet it’s not an obvious wine – it’s too condensed and brooding for that. You feel like this will slow burn forever, with that grapefruit core lasting for generations.” Oz Wine Review, Andrew Graham, Aug 2022

92 Points “Ultra-pale lemon to water-white in the glass. Lime zest, flint lemongrass aromatics. Tight and tense on the tongue with lemon and nettles showing alongside a smoky flint minerality. Acidity is bracing as it drives the palate long and dry. Will be a long-lived prospect.” The Real Review, Sept 2022

Harvest Date: 14 –20 March 2021
Bottling Date: 10 February 2022
Alc: 11.0%
pH: 2.85
T.A.: g/L
Residual sugar: 8.3g/L
Vegan: Yes
Minimal sulphites used

Click on the below link to download the tasting note for the current vintage.

2021 Castle Rock Estate ‘Diletti’ Riesling