2018 The Story Wines Whitlands Reisling

VARIETAL: Reisling
REGION: Whitlands, VIC
WINEMAKER: Rory Lane
VITICULTURE: Organic/Sustainable

Our fourth release from Whitlands, and we are just beginning to understand the charms of this beautiful site. The Croucher Vineyard is set at close spacing on red volcanic soils, up at around 800m above sea level, and was planted in the mid-1980s. It is proper cool-climate viticulture - something I think riesling really needs to give full expression. 2018 was a warmer year then the cool 2017, and ripeness was more easily achieved, but the site retains superb, slicing acidity even in the warmer years. With riper flavours I opted to ferment entirely in stainless steel to preserve and lock in the flavours rather than 'build' them with oak. Lemon, lime, red apple, blossom, tonic water and a hint of that 'alpine herb' character are all present, this year with a little less residual sugar at 6g/lt.

The Story Wines was established in 2004 by Rory Lane, selecting grapes from small, older vineyards in the Grampians region of Western Victoria. Rory's story isn't the classic one. He wasn't born into a wine family, he didn't make a small fortune in other business before turning his eye to wine, but rather he started small, with fruit from regions he was most passionate about and transported them to a small suburban winery on the outskirts of Melbourne. In a short time Rory has built a reputation for producing soulful wines that speak of their regions.