With its fresh, intense lemon tonic, pear, apple, oyster shell aromas, superb lemon curd richness, persistence and minerality, Crawford River Riesling reflects the modern idiom of the Riesling style. The dry-grown vines, first planted in 1975 by John Thomson, are deeply anchored in gravelly friable basalt loams over clays and an ancient limestone seabed.
Second generation winemaker Belinda Thomson, with her father John Thomson, continues the philosophy of minimal intervention and movement during vinification. The cold-settled juice is batch fermented around 12° - 15° C and left on lees for around six weeks before bottling in September.
Bright light to mid-yellow-green hue, and a refined, restrained lime and lemon aroma. The palate is rich and juicy at the same time as it's refined and delicate. There is power here, concentration and persistence: it's a stunning balancing act of rich, ripe fruit with refinement. Variations on the theme of lemon! This is a magnificent riesling.
98 Points, The Real Review
Surprisingly reticent yet still a delicious rendition this vintage. If anything, it's more subtle, savoury even. Sure it has the hint of lemon blossom, but also wet slate and texture, more phenolic grip, it's riper and all done well.
95 Points, Wine Companion
Whoa. Here’s the contender. Insanely fresh, crisp even, sure, a little honeycomb and a husky drawl of oatmeal, sugared almond through the wine, but the brittle acidity, green apple and sweet lime juice happening around that speaks of a wine at three, maybe five, outlying at seven years old, not twelve. Despite that, it’s compelling drinking. It does the variety with grace, complexity, interest. It’s unreal! Jeepers, I can’t keep my mouth off the bottle.
96 Points, The Wine Front
Henty
Situated 300 km west of Melbourne in Southwestern Victoria, Henty was named after the first family to settle in Victoria in the 1800’s. The region was pioneered in 1964 by Karl Seppelt, who recognized that the cool climate was ideal for the production of sparkling and aromatic wines. The Seppelts planted 100 hectares at Drumborg in 1964 and this was followed by Crawford River in 1975. The long, gentle autumn ripening period allows the retention of both acid and aromatics crucial for Henty’s flagship variety, Riesling.
