2023 Two Paddocks Picnic Riesling

A mild, wet 2022 winter meant soils held a lot of water going into
the spring and inter-row companion crops including clover, phacelia
and barley got off to a strong start. Early spring was very cold and
then as spring warmed up in November shoot growth was strong.
Flowering started the first week in December and fruit set was
considered good on most blocks. Mid-summer heat was high and
growing degree days were above 2022 and on par with 2019 by
the end of the season. Picking dates were moving forward until the second half of March
when the heat ran out and the final ripening was slow and cool.
Harvest started on the 27th of March at Red Bank Vineyard and
finished on the 21st of April at The First Paddock, Gibbston.
Cropping levels were just short of the optimum 2022 crop.
VINEYARD MANAGEMENT - Soils are schist based gravelly loams.
Own roots – cane cuttings from Felton Road. Single cane, one bunch
per shoot and very close planted at 5500 vines per hectare. Both
shoot and lateral thinned to reduce crop load. Leaves that expose the grapes when ripening are also plucked off to increase sunlight
exposure in to the vine canopy. Hand harvested.  Hand harvested on the 17th April 2023 at 21 Brix and whole bunch pressed, meaning that the press was loaded with the grapes as intact bunches, versus removing the stems first. This pressed juice was then steeped on those skins (in wine language we call that ‘skin contact’) for 14 hours to extract aromatics and flavour and then it was inoculated with yeast and fermented to ‘just off-dry’ wine. We then left the wine sitting in tank on its lees (spent yeast cells that boost body and complexity) for three months before bottling. Please note the International Riesling scale on the back label.

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