Taylors St Andrews Clare Valley Riesling 2005

Taylors St Andrews Riesling 2005(Clare Valley, SA)
Scewcap, $32

Another weekend, another superb South Australian Riesling with a few years on it. This one is a current release too! Forgive me if I bang on about Riesling a bit, but for my mind we make the best dry Rieslings in the world. Period. What’s more, from a wine industry point of view Riesling ticks alot of boxes; Its is cheap to produce; can be transformed from grapes to wine in months and can be released young or old; It is low in alcohol (Keeping the neo-prohibitionists happy
) and likes crap stony soils. Sounds like a good business case to me – pity the typical wine drinker doesn’t share my love of this grape.

This Taylors is still green in colour, even though its 3rd birthday in bottle has come and gone. The nose is still quite primary, with kaffir lime, lemon, green apple & a little toasty development in a fresh, lifted and perfect mould. The palate is similarly brilliant, with a flow of very dry lime fruits in a lean start that gets richer as the toastiness kicks in. From here it just gets more expansive, more limey, staying seriously dry before finishing with a rush of pineapple juice.

This is another brilliant Riesling that simultaneously shows the freshness of youth, whilst also displaying the lovely richness that some bottle age has given it. Will live for another decade, but a perfect drink now. 19