A poor flowering in the wet 1999 spring season was always going to reduce the 2000 riesling crop in Eden Valley. Much of the vines’ growth potential was then redirected towards canopy growth, which might normally have posed a problem. Fortunately the larger vine canopies were able to protect their fast-ripening crops against the sunburn which might otherwise have fried them under the extreme heat of the hottest February since last century. The vines were able to produce good flavours at lower sugar levels than usual, resulting in a fine collection of intense, but taut, bony wines with austerity and more limey flavours than you tend to find in cooler years when lemon flavours typically predominate. There’s some phenolic grip in these young wines, but fining before bottling should polish them up nicely, leaving classic Eden Valley chalk and dry alum textures. If they lack the richness and generosity of the best Clare Valley rieslings of the last decade, the 2000 Eden Valley rieslings represent another classic style and should live and improve for many, many years.
