Stage 2
Grape Varieties
Riesling
Riesling prefers a cool to moderate climate. It has excellent acidity, which it retains well even when the fruit reach optimum ripeness levels making it highly suitable for late harvesting in regions that have dry and sunny autumns such as Germany. Late harvest style wines can be dry, medium or sweet and tropical notes can develop such as peach, apricot, pineapple and mango. The high acidity levels also help the wines to age in bottle where they can develop smoke and petrol-like aromas and flavours of honey and toast. The grape is susceptible to noble rot making it ideal for luscious sweet wines. Like Chardonnay it has the ability to express nuances of individual vineyard sites.
- Cool Climate– such as Germany produce wines with flavours of green fruit, apple, floral, fruity and sometimes with a hint of citrus fruit.
- Moderate Climate– such as Clare Valley in Australia produce wines with flavours of citrus and stone fruit, peach, fresh lime and white peach
- Hot climate– not an ideal climate for Riesling but it copes well and generally retains its acidity levels but looses flavours.
