Print this Wine         1999 Mount Horrocks "Cordon Cut" Riesling   WATERVALE, CLARE VALLEY                 January Release   Dessert Wine       This is Stephanie Toole's best Cordon Cut. Stephanie has made some wonderful wines but this year the wine transcends anything else before. It is a great dessert wine. The method of production is still quite rare in Australia as you would suspect that the success of the Mount Horrocks wine would inspire many copy cats, yet this is not the case, so far. A few weeks prior to the anticipated date of picking a grape bearing cordon on each vine is slashed. This has two effects. The grapes beyond the cut will shrivel without nutrient supply whilst the remaining grapes on the live parts of the plant will benefit from reduced competition. The appearance hardly prepares you for the aroma and taste of this wine. It is a pale gold color, brilliant and clear but at this youthful stage the color is not indicative of the concentration of the fruit flavours the wine possesses. Whilst the appearance may be a little deceiving there is no question with the bouquet. There is a vast array of different characters that make this a truly great wine. There is floral perfume notes at first with rose blossoms being immediately noticeable. Then there is some sweet and succulent fruit essence. These fruit characters are all citrus fruit with orange, mandarin and tangerine being the most readily identifiable. At a slighter deeper level is some honey and toffee. All of these wonderful rich and heady flavors are seemingly magnified on the palate as they intermingle with each other. The lip smacking luscious nature of the toffee combining with the super ripe citrus is almost overwhelming. The wine feels a lot more viscous than what it actually is. It feels just one step more fluid than treacle, and it truly coats the tongue. All of this richness and concentration of fruit would be lost if the wine didn't have balancing acid. Fortunately Stephanie is meticulous in this area and she has produced a wine with all the richness you could hope for and the finish just lives on and on because she is not afraid to leave the finish of the wine tasting crisp and refreshing with acid. The cordon cut method certainly assists in retaining a large percentage of natural acidity. To determine when the optimum time to drink this wine is quite a challenge. Ultimately it is a matter of personal preference. There is so much concentration of fruit flavor at the moment that the wine is very attractive right now, however with the high acid level and the richness on the palate the wine will develop for many years to come. To enjoy it mellow and mature open another bottle at around 5 years of age. The wine is versatile when looking at food matches. It has the citrus fruit to be matched to fruity desserts, it has the toffee richness to cope with custards and creamy desserts and the overall balance of sweetness followed by crisp acid makes it an ideal partner with a range of cheese, particularly blue vein.

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