Huia (New Zealand) Marlborough Riesling 2004
At a recent tasting I found many Australian and New Zealand Rieslings from the 2006 vintage that were extremely good. Meanwhile, I also tasted this 2004 vintage Riesling from Marlborough’s Huia Vineyards, where Claire Allen makes the wines and owns and manages the estate along with husband Mike. 2004 was an excellent Riesling vintage in Marlborough, with a very long, sunny but fairly cool growing season. The nose has a fairly ripe, fruity style rather than anything overtly mineral or ‘pertroly’, with a certain floral edge and plenty of juicy lemon and lime. The palate has a richness, with apple and very gently honeyed notes, and a big succulent background of grapefruit that gives this definition and length. With less than 6g/l of residual sugar this is basically dry, but has just enough limpid weight to make for delicious drinking whilst those 2005s and 2006s come around. Around 10 from Bibendum
