Critics reviews
Jamie Goode - Sunday Express (S Magazine) - May 2016
Victoria Moore - 'Wines of the week' The Daily Telegraph
About this WINE
Torzi Matthews Vintners
Domenic Torzi is of South Central Italian origin, a heritage reflected in some of the grape varieties he grows and the “amarone” treatment he gives to his Frost Dodger Shiraz.
With his partner Tracy Matthews he has set up home since 1996 on 10 ha of land in the high Eden Valley, at the foot of Mount Mckenzie, a cool region in South Australia more famous for Riesling than Negroamaro or Shiraz. Not only do they make great, characterful wines, but they also make fabulous olive oil from some of the ancient wild olive trees in the Barossa Valley, and if you are lucky enough to visit they may treat you to some of their beautiful home-cured ham and fresh bread.
Riesling
Riesling's twin peaks are its intense perfume and its piercing crisp acidity which it manages to retain even at high ripeness levels.
In Germany, Riesling constitutes around 20% of total plantings, yet it is responsible for all its greatest wines. It is planted widely on well-drained, south-facing slate-rich slopes, with the greatest wines coming from the best slopes in the best villages. It produces delicate, racy, nervy and stylish wines that cover a wide spectrum of flavours from steely and bone dry with beautifully scented fruits of apples,apricots, and sometimes peaches, through to the exotically sweet flavours of the great sweet wines.
It is also an important variety in Alsace where it produces slightly earthier, weightier and fuller wines than in Germany. The dry Rieslings can be austere and steely with hints of honey while the Vendages Tardives and Sélection de Grains Nobles are some of the greatest sweet wines in the world.
It is thanks to the New World that Riesling is enjoying a marked renaissance. In Australia the grape has developed a formidable reputation, delivering lime-sherbet fireworks amid the continental climate of Clare Valley an hour's drive north of Adelaide, while Barossa's Eden Valley is cooler still, producing restrained stony lime examples from the elevated granitic landscape; Tasmania is fast becoming their third Riesling mine, combining cool temperatures with high UV levels to deliver stunning prototypes.
New Zealand shares a similar climate, with Riesling and Pinot Gris neck to neck in their bid to be the next big thing after Sauvignon Blanc; perfectly suited is the South Island's Central Otago, with its granitic soils and continental climate, and the pebbly Brightwater area near Nelson. While Australia's Rieslings tend to be full-bodied & dry, the Kiwis are more inclined to be lighter bodied, more ethereal and sometimes off-dry; Alsace plays Mosel if you like.
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Description
Domenic Torzi and Tracy Matthews were going to grub up their Frost Dodger Riesling vineyard – until we persuaded them to continue making the wine, exclusively for the Berry Bros. & Rudd Own Selection range. Our Buyer Catriona Felstead MW has worked closely with them to create this thrilling Eden Valley Riesling.
Aromas and flavours of classic lime fruit move through to a peach-stone core and are followed by an immaculate, wet-stone finish. The real beauty of this wine, however, lies in its impressive weight and texture, which combines with a porcelain freshness, invigorating the palate. This is a fantastic example of what Eden can achieve and is also a thoroughly refreshing wine.
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