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The Perfect Match
Our monthly column pairing meats, poultry, fresh produce and specific dishes with wines available from Huber’s concise range of wines, hand-selected by wine, food and travel writer-commentator Curtis Marsh, The Wandering Palate – www.thewanderingpalate.com
Who said white wine doesn’t go with beef!
2008 Mount Horrocks Riesling – Clare Valley
And the wine; well there are many white wines that would fit the bill, as long as they are crisp, with racy acidity and generally no oak, or a least unobtrusive, such as sauvignon blanc from Sancerre and Pouilly-Fume, semillon from Australia; perhaps gruner veltliner or even a dry rose from Provence. My ‘perfect match’, tried and tested, is a tantalizing tangy and crisp Mount Horrocks Riesling 2008 that sings with lime and lemon with a mouth-watering succulence of fruit yet possessing an invigorating cut of fresh acidity to keep pace with this lively salad. Riesling is probably the consummate Thai cuisine wine, in the sense of its inherent power to keep up with challenging flavours and its defined lemon/lime/citrus backbone obviously synergistic with the core ingredients of Thai cooking. In this particular dish, you find both the lemon/lime flavours and the mints marry perfectly with the attributes of Mount Horrocks Riesling.
There is a bourgeoning global revival in the appreciation of riesling however, paradoxically this noblest of white grapes is struggling in the Asia market, or perhaps specifically the Asian consumer whose preference is clearly towards red wines. There is also ambiguity in terms of rieslings status in the pecking order of premium wine and wine elitism.
However, there are distinct, favoured riesling vineyard sites and soils around the world, begetting truly distinguished wines that are expressive of their unique geology and climate, or terroir, endowed with an encompassing spirit of place and indisputable authenticity.
One such blessed place is the sub-region of Watervale in the Clare Valley, South Australia, a distinctive Australian terroir and one of those truly special pieces of earth that transposes itself nakedly through the venerable riesling grape, redolent in minerals as if taking a spa in a limestone solution.
Almost all the rock in the Clare Valley is of sedimentary origin, from a period between 800 and 500 million years ago, during the Neoproterozoic era, the receding oceans and glacial movements that linked Australia with Antarctica deposited silt, sand and carbonate in a largely marine sedimentary basin, forming chalk, limestone, sandstone and shale with top-soils rich in minerals. Much of Australia"s ancient metamorphic crust has eroded over the passage of time with tectonic plate movements creating mountains and ranges, such as Mount Horrocks and the Clare Valley"s U-shaped ranges, with Watervale at the apex.
The harsh environment of Australia and the Clare Valley’s dry Mediterranean climate may seem an unlikely match for riesling however, in Watervale at 1,300 feet (396 meters) above sea level, both altitude and sea breezes off the Spencer Gulf and Great Southern Ocean temper the hot, sunny days with very cool evenings enhancing the natural acidities, vital to rieslings core.
It is well-known fact that riesling expresses the soil it is grown in more than any other grape variety and just happens to be one of those varieties that is best left to its own devices, unadulterated by wood (oak), it is principally fermented and matured in stainless steel, temperature controlled tanks. Subsequently, the less intrusive or lower labour-intensity in the winery is often reflected in the affordability of many rieslings however this should not be misinterpreted as being inferior, to the contrary riesling will outlive (bottle age) any other white grape variety moreover, arguably outclasses and over-delivers in price/quality rapport than any other grape period.
My tasting note on the Mount Horrocks Riesling 2008 – Clare Valley
Perfumed with a melange of ripe stone fruits; peach, apricot, juicy nectarine along with tropical tones of passionfruit, fresh pineapple, guava and fresh figs with a background of lime sherbet, lemongrass and fresh mints; juxtaposed with custard and honeysuckle/clover honey nuances and pronounced chalky minerals. There is still youthful estery semblance and very seductive filigree that that draws you to the glass in anticipation of succulence and freshness. Explosive palate entry with a rush of piquant lime saturating the mouth, tantalizingly juicy with tangy blood orange and grapefruit flavours, builds in intensity with crisp green apple tartness and pickled ginger spiciness with persistent lemon-edged acidity kicking in - ethereal, slippery-textured wine, seamless and poised with racy, refreshing-invigorating acidity and lingering wet limestone earthiness and a chalky dry sea-salty tailing. Impeccable balance and very approachable right now, defying its only short period in bottle, more so the fact it will cellar for 10 years or more easily. Australian riesling does not come much better than this furthermore, this has to be one of the white wine bargainsof the world.
Available from Huber’s concise range at S$42, so you should be ordering by the case!
Available from Huber’s concise range at S$42, so you should be ordering by the case!
For more information on Mount Horrocks visit www.mounthorrocks.com
You might also visit this link for article i wrote some time back on Mount Horrocks being served up to Her Royal Highness, Queen Elizabeth II http://www.thewanderingpalate.com/2006_jul_22.html
Cheers!
Curtis Marsh – The Wandering Palate
“Curtis Marsh is a fully independent wine, food and travel writer with over 30 years experience in hospitality, wine and media industries.”
Promo
Sugarloaf Ridge Chardonnay 2007
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Recipes
Veal Saltimbocca
Fast and easy!...
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