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Felton Road Dry Riesling 2020

Published by

Christian Gott – An Island Chef

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Riesling wines can range from dry to very sweet, they can be still or sparkling and packed with mouth-watering acidity and lots of fruit flavours, especially green apples, pears, apricots, and citrus fruits. Classic Rieslings can yield aromas of fruit, honeycomb, flint, lanolin, a wax found in sheep’s wool, and even petrol. Riesling wines are usually bottled in tall narrow glass bottles allowing them to be easily identified on the shelf.

Riesling is great paired with a wide variety of food and because of its high acid and natural sugars really good at pairing up with Asian-inspired dishes and can stand up to a fair amount of chilli heat. It is also a natural partner for fish and seafood particularly if accompanied by citrus or wine-flavoured sauces.

Felton Road Dry Riesling 2020

This Felton Road Dry Riesling is a great example of New World-style Riesling wine, from the Central Otago wine district of New Zealand. The vineyard is situated in Bannockburn, on the south bank of the Kawarau River. The warm, dry climate and stony soil aids in the production of complex, wines with classic tropical fruit, apple, and citrus flavours. Felton Road Winery is famous for Pinot Noir, but they also make Chardonnay as well as Riesling wines. All of the wines are produced organically and biodynamically and fermented with natural yeasts. The Riesling is aged on the lees ( a technical term for a mix of dead yeast cells and small impurities in the wine such as leaf, skin and stem fragments ) which adds complexity.

This wine screams mouth-watering acid from the first sip balanced with the sweetness of tropical fruit flavours of mango and pineapple as well as a backbone of minerality and crisp green apple. Citrus, lime, and honey on the nose lead to a pleasing dry finish. A crisp, refreshing full flavour Riesling that would go great with a fresh crab or lobster next time I eat one.

Grape variety                                Riesling

Country of origin                       New Zealand

Region                                             Central Otago

Vintage                                            2020

Alcohol                                            12%

Notes

Felton Road dry riesling is a certified organic and biodynamically produced wine made by wild fermentation and an emphasis on sustainabilty.

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One response to “Felton Road Dry Riesling 2020”

  1. Catherine Marshall, Chenin Blanc fermented in Clay, South Africa 2020 – The Caskaway Avatar
    Catherine Marshall, Chenin Blanc fermented in Clay, South Africa 2020 – The Caskaway

    […] not one of my go to grape varieties, when I’m drinking white wines I normally head straight for a Reisling or Sémillon but this blog is about my wine journey and so todays post is about one way to look […]

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Welcome to The Caskaway

Personal, subjective and in no way definitive but I hope The Caskaway reveals a little of the passion I have for wine and beer. I’m no expert but I love to learn and wanted to share my knowledge and discoveries with all my drink writing in one convenient place. Why am I doing this when there is so much information out there already? Well, if one person reads and tries something new, I will call that a win.

There are honest tasting notes that you might hopefully find helpful, entertaining and maybe even instructive. Some posts try to help with the confusing and often obscure specialist terminology and language in both the beer and wine worlds and yes, there is a lot! Finally, there are links to all of my favourite recipes made using wine and beer (see below), and finally some expanded reviews of great pubs and other bits and pieces.

Formerly a full-time chef and publican, I’ve worked for two breweries, an award-winning Jersey based wine merchants and now try to write and broadcast about food and drink for local and national media including What’s Brewing and BBC Local Radio.