Robert Oatley Limited Release Great Southern Riesling 2010 (Great Southern, WA)
12.2%, Screwcap, $35
Source: Sample
www.robertoatley.com

Robert Oatley Great Southern Riesling Check out the lid on that!

The particular screwcap luxe sealing this bottle was one sexy seal. I’m not a massive fan of the gold bands of the rest of the label, but the screwcap is one attractive beast. I do wonder if this might have been a slightly less than perfect bottle however, as the juice inside simply didn’t quite perform. It didn’t show any obvious signs of a bad bottle though, so I’ll just have to call it as I see it.

This comes from a vineyard on the edge of the Porongroups near Mt Barker, WA, and was made by the talented Larry Cherubino (so no problem with the provenance).

What strikes me though is how forward it is. There’s a certain forward, flabbiness that quite a few of the ’10 Great Southern rizzas have and it seems most apparent here. It’s almost a burnt sugar edge, a cooked floral note that’s a fraction distracting. The palate is unquestionably intense with a very dry grapefruit fruit character, yet it also seems overly sweet, with a caramelised, sherbety edge that gets more prominent as the palate progresses, finishing broad, sweet and awkwardly.

Sad to say I really didn’t enjoy this at all – it just looked broad and surprisingly flabby considering the context. 15.8/86