South facing, rich soils with slate - floral, stone fruits and delicate texture.

Scored 96 Points by James Suckling. Read the review.

Scored 93 Points by The Winefront (Mike Bennie). Read the review.

Planted in 1923, this is one of the oldest Riesling vineyards in the Clare Valley. It was established by the neighbouring Parish family and has remained in their hands to this day. The rows run east – west, allowing the canopy to protect the fruit from the intense sun.

The site is unique for Watervale, as the vines grow over slate and heavy red clay. While most of Watervale is limestone, there are some bands of slate running through the area. Additionally, there’s a bit of iron stone in this block. 

Given the heavier clay soils over the slate and the very old vines, the flavours of this wine are very powerful to begin with. Over the 5 years we have been working with this vineyard, we’ve realised it requires minimal intervention in the winery beyond a clean and controlled ferment. The wine ferments and matures in stainless steel. Malolactic fermentation (MLF) isn't typically favourable for this wine, so we generally keep it cool. In total the wine spends 15 months in steel, predominantly on fine lees. It was bottled at the end of April 2025 without fining or filtration and with 70pppm total sulphur dioxide added.

WINEMAKING NOTES:

Vineyard: Parish Vineyard, Watervale

Farming: Organic

Planted: 1923

Soil type: Red clay on Slate

Picking date: 18 February, 2024

Picking method: Hand harvested and sorted in vineyard 

Processing: Crush and destem

Time on skins: 6 hours in press

Pressing: Free run only, minimal press rotations

Cooling / settling: Cold settled off dirt and heavy solids for 3 days

Fermentation: Natural ferment in stainless steel for 2 months

Aging vessel: Stainless steel on fine lees for 12 months

Filtration / Fining: No

Bottled: 01/05/2025

Alc / pH / TA / SO2: 12.4% / 3.03 / 7.2 / 35F, 70T

Production: 105 dozen