|
Our 2008 Raiha Reserve is a bright green gold wine. Typical Riesling aromas of lime flowers, citrus and floral touches combine with a steely mineral element. The palate itself delivers an abundance of juicy citrus fruit with more zesty limes and lemons tempered by natural sweetness from the grape sugars. Balanced acidity reflecting the soils keeps the sweetness in check and combines with a stony minerality to provide a full flavoured yet crisp finishing wine.
Handpicked from the Awatere and Waihopai vineyards this Riesling was carefully transported to the winery in very cool conditions, then crushed and destemmed gently at our state of the art Marlborough winery. Free run juice of the highest quality was pressed into stainless steel tanks for settling and fermentation at cool temperatures to preserve the integrity of the fruit flavours and aromas. Careful tasting and assessment was used to stop the fermentation with low alcohol and a balanced natural sweetness and acidity.
Our Riesling vines are grown on the stony soils of the upper Awatere Valley and the Waihopai Valley of Marlborough. Trained to two canes on trellised vineyards the cropping level is carefully monitored and controlled by our viticulturists to achieve optimum ripeness and balance. 2008 was a near perfect growing season with adequate rainfall during the early season and warm dry conditions for the harvest. Our Waihopai grapes were harvested in early April with the Awatere Riesling being the last of all Tohu’s fruit for the vintage; being harvested on the last two days of April 2008.
This low alcohol sweeter style Riesling lends itself to desserts like poached pears and mascarpone cheese.
|