Gruner Veltliner 2023
“Beguiling nose, ripe peach, rose’s lime cordial, pencil lead, spice and peppery influence. Delightfully creamy palate fills the mouth, richness and textural impact, all the while balanced and integrated with crispness and chewy touches. Searching for specific flavours is superfluous here, as it charms so well as a whole. Full of flavour, simply lovely. Excellent to outstanding. “
Mark Henderson. ODT. March 2024.
Buy a case (12 bottles) to get 12% discount - If you would like to organise a mixed case please email kevin@riverbyestate.com and we can put together a special order.
“Beguiling nose, ripe peach, rose’s lime cordial, pencil lead, spice and peppery influence. Delightfully creamy palate fills the mouth, richness and textural impact, all the while balanced and integrated with crispness and chewy touches. Searching for specific flavours is superfluous here, as it charms so well as a whole. Full of flavour, simply lovely. Excellent to outstanding. “
Mark Henderson. ODT. March 2024.
Buy a case (12 bottles) to get 12% discount - If you would like to organise a mixed case please email kevin@riverbyestate.com and we can put together a special order.
“Beguiling nose, ripe peach, rose’s lime cordial, pencil lead, spice and peppery influence. Delightfully creamy palate fills the mouth, richness and textural impact, all the while balanced and integrated with crispness and chewy touches. Searching for specific flavours is superfluous here, as it charms so well as a whole. Full of flavour, simply lovely. Excellent to outstanding. “
Mark Henderson. ODT. March 2024.
Buy a case (12 bottles) to get 12% discount - If you would like to organise a mixed case please email kevin@riverbyestate.com and we can put together a special order.
This is our ninth vintage of Gruner Veltliner, and our third in a row to win a wine show gold, making us one of the more experienced and successful “Gruner” producers in New Zealand. It comes from our Jacksons Road vineyard in the heart of the grape-growing area of Marlborough. We remove fruit during the ripening season so that the remaining low yielding fruit ripens perfectly and without any pressure from disease. This was certainly the case in 2023.
The 2023 vintage in Marlborough turned out to be exceptional, producing grapes and then wine of incredible quality, although it certainly didn’t always look that way. Spring 2022 started with good weather leading to a successful flowering and reasonable bunch numbers. From January onwards the weather was quite mixed, with showers and inconsistent temperatures, however the grapes came through in good order and the last two weeks prior to harvest had perfect conditions for slow, perfect ripening with cool nights and warm days. The grapes were harvested on 30 March 2023 at 21.2 brix, and we were presented with fruit of exceptional quality and finesse. The fruit was machine harvested in the cool of the night, treated very gently throughout the whole wine-making process and handled totally in stainless steel to retain the aromatics. It was fermented quite dry to produce a very elegant, food friendly wine. It was bottled on 24 August 2023.
Pale straw, lemon in colour, this wine has a beautifully elegant, spicy nose with nectarines and other stone-fruits, grapefruit and lime citrus, feijoas, and lovely floral and herbal notes, even a hint of wet river-stones. The palate follows on precisely from this. It is immediately soft and inviting, textured and mouth-coating with real complexity, virtually perfect acid and fruit richness. Ripe peaches and nectarines are prominent on the palate, with mandarins and grapefruit, all on a spicy, peppery backdrop. The long, lingering finish is impressive, showing complexity and elegance with the characteristic white pepper finish. All and all, this is a very elegant, refined, totally mouth-watering wine, and very food friendly.
Technical Notes
Alcohol: 13.75%, Acidity: 5.63, PH: 3.34, Residual Sugar: 6.0 g r/s Gold Medal NZIWS Oct 2023
Reviews
Elegant and splendidly styled, showing apricot, fig, rockmelon and jasmine aromas, leading to a delicately flowing palate that's juicy and supple. Finely textured and well structured, finishing long and refined. At its best: now to 2028. ***** 94/100
Sam Kim. Wine Orbit. Oct 2023
Riverby's Grüner is fast becoming a favourite in their range. As in previous vintages it displays a fragrant peach and ripe pear opulence and juiciness that combines with a sheer, mineral acidity for a wine that is luscious with a definite fruity sweetness and ripeness, but has such a focused, clear line to the finish. A cracking example. 91/100
Tom Cannavan. Wine-pages.com. March 2024
An ideal introduction to the variety, the 2023 vintage (4*) was estate-grown and hand-picked in the Wairau Valley. Light lemon/green, it is mouthfilling, with very good depth of fresh, citrusy, slightly spicy flavours, fractional sweetness (5 grams/litre of residual sweetness), balanced acidity, and lots of drink-young appeal.
Michael Cooper February 2024