The small Canberra-based winery of Madew near Lake George has released a first-rate collection of white wines whose distinctive attitude and style place them amongst the most interesting I have tasted in recent weeks. Winemaker David Madew’s approach is one of minimal intervention as he makes a genuine effort to let his vineyards do the talking for him. Top of the range are the low-cropped ‘Belle’ wines, sourced specifically from plantings up to thirty years of age, from higher sections of the vineyard. They’re very limited in production, but remain very accessibly priced. Best of the lot is the Belle Riesling 2002 ($25 ex cellar, 18.7, drink 2007-2010), a racy and intensely flavoured wine of around spatlese sweetness. Its fragrance is floral and mineral, with concentrated and slightly candied aromas of mango, paw paw and pineapple, over hints of earthy lees-derived complexity. It’s long and bracing, at once generous and tight-knit, with a lightly phenolic and chalky texture. Finished with clean, austere acids, it should develop superbly. Contrasting this wine with its steely dryness is the ‘standard’ Riesling 2002 ($20 ex cellar, 18.3, drink 2010-2014), a pristine and intensely flavoured wine of high natural acidity and longevity. Its pure and penetrative aromas of lime juice and lemon are enhanced with suggestions of honeydew melon, apple and musk. Crystal-clear and finely honed, the palate is long, taut and elegant, bursting with intense citrusy fruit. Madew’s effort with its Belle Pinot Gris 2002 ($30 ex cellar, 18.2, drink 2003-2004+) is one of the best Australian wines yet made with this variety. It’s almost pungent and punchy in its floral, rose petal and pear-like fragrance, while complex hints of creamy yeast and dusty wood add to its personality. Long and fleshy, but finishing clean and savoury with lemony acids, it has red wine-like vinosity and texture despite a fractionally sweet finish. The ‘standard’ Pinot Gris 2002 ($25, 16.2, drink 2003-2004) offers some attractive spicy, savoury qualities, but the fruit lacks the freshness and intensity of its classier stablemate. Madew’s very stylish Chardonnay 2001 ($25, 17.9, drink 2003-2006+) is a fine, long, chalky and savoury wine with a bright core of intense citrus and melon fruit, before a mineral acid finish. There’s a hint of funk and some obvious vanilla and bubblegum oak treatment that will shortly settle down. Winemaker David Madew has bottled each of these five wines under Stelvin caps.
