Mcguigan The Shortlist Riesling 2005

Mcguigan Shortlist Riesling 05 Much sharper than the photo

Mcguigan The Shortlist Riesling 2005 (Eden Valley, SA)
12%, Screwcap, $29
Source: Sample
www.mcguiganwines.com.au

Groaning under the weight of wine-show bling is this wine. Multiple gold medals and trophies galore. I can see why too – from a winemaking perspective it’s nearly perfectly made, clinical even, with nary a hair out of place and no shortage of fruit intensity. I couldn’t drink a glass though….

The problem is that it’s ultimately a severe wine, built so unyielding, dry and firm that there’s just no love, no give. That’s evident from the nose alone, which is bombastically toasty and almost carboardy in it’s bottle aged Eden Riesling expression. The palate follows this with a hard, acid driven form that has some nice mid palate richness yet also razor sharp, ultra-firm acidity.

Net result of all of this is an impressively built wine of stature and delineation but also such hard edges that I can’t quite love (or really enjoy as a drink). The score then is an in-between point, a nod to the contradictions of form and style that this wine presents. I think the plus sign may well be important with this one, though only if the acidity begins to integrate more… 16.5/88+