Another fascinating wine from Matt Burton – the M Burton Riesling I

More and more I think of Matt Burton, of Gundog Estate, as a sort of winemaking mad professor. Hunched over a barrel, cackling wildly as he makes his latest wine creation.

‘It’s alive!’

Actually, Burton is a an affable and switched on guy in the flesh, and while he loves to tinker, the Gundog wines are almost uniformly high quality, even if they don’t always work. Matt ships his wines with lots of (welcome) wine nerd info too (and usually printed on thick, fancy weight paper).

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It means you want to try the latest releases, every time.

The latest Burton creation lobbed up last week too, and it’s fascinating stuff too.

The M Burton Riesling follows in the footsteps of the M Burton Shiraz I, with a multi vintage expression of Canberra Riesling.

Odd, I know. But multi-vintage winemaking has a long, typically ignored history (Maurice O’Shea was famous for it!) and can make great wines beyond sparkling and fortified (hello Vega Sicilia Unico Reserva Especial or Sean Thackrey’s Pleiades). So yes, let’s go.

This M Burton Riesling I certainly looks different – bottled in a brown high end Italian-esque bottle and sealed with a high quality cork too, just to remind you of its eccentricity.

The mix is Riesling from 2018 (14%). 2019 (14%), 2021 (28%) & 2022 (44%). Various approaches to juice preparation too, from light pressing to high clarification, to heavy pressing with little or no settling. Some ferments and maturation in oak or tank. Some on lees some not. Numbers: pH 2.99 TA 8g/L RS 4g/L

Oh, and $5 from every bottle sold goes to Path 2 Change to support youth homelessness. Great work 👏.

I expected this to be orange or something, but it’s straw green. You could be fooled into thinking this was all 2020 onwards juice.

Quite the cosseting mouthful too – you can see and taste the barrel ferment, which adds layers of straw and lemon barley sugar. It’s dry though. Dry and citrussy. Contrasts aplenty!

Texture and complexity are the plays here, and this delivers plenty of both – a note of hessian and lanolin in one mouthful, a flood of different shades of citrus in another, all finishing with enough tightness to keep things fresh.

Intellectually, this is compelling wine. Can you pick out all the different vintage and winemaking elements? But sensually – well, it’s just not delicious enough. It ends up a bit heavy going, as if the textural weight is taking over the vitality.

I can admire it, and quality-wise it’s all there. Though as a drink, as some sort of Camberra Riesling expression, it isn’t enough to have me reaching for that second glass.

Still worth a try.

Best drinking: anyone’s guess. Now? It’s not going to fall over either. 17.5/20, 91/100. 11.1%, $85. Gundog Estate website. Would I buy it? Just a glass.