A spot of aromatherapy today, highlighting two trios of what are often dubbed aromatic varieties, with some of the wines flaunting a touch of sweetness.
Chenin blanc is less well known here. Its origin is the Loire Valley in France and it is also widely planted in South Africa.
An opportunity to try something a little different.
2022 Giesen Riesling
Price: RRP $16.99
Rating: Very good to excellent
Nicely floral, white flowers, a hint of honey. Starts with some honeyed sweetness on the palate, becoming drier as notes of apple and stonefruits begin to assert themselves, adding stony touches and a lick of fruit pith. Supple acidity, some bitter-sweet refreshment to close. Re-tasted cooler gives more freshness and lift, the sweetness much more evident too.
2021 Giesen Gemstone Limited Release Riesling
Price: RRP $17.99
Rating: Excellent
Honeysuckle perfume, hints of lemon, lightly cinnamon spiced stewed apple. A sense of fatness initially, light sweetness, subtlety to the flavours, a tangy element counters the sweetness. preserved lemon perhaps. Not big and punchy, fine and with good length. Re-tasted cooler this shows greater vibrancy with attractive delicacy.
2019 Giesen Reiler Goldlay Mosel Riesling
Price: RRP $26.99
Rating: Excellent
More powerfully composed with beeswax, marzipan, apple and honey. A prickly touch on the tongue, some chewy fruit pith characters adding grip, less sweet than I might have guessed. Fatness and structural backbone with good flavour depth; while this shows some development, it should kick on too. A wisp of woodsmoke hangs on the finish.
2022 Astrolabe Southern Valleys Sec Chenin Blanc
Price: RRP $28
Rating: Excellent
Rich nose of lanolin and apple, straw, dried fruits adding a hint of fruit sweetness. A combo of acidity and some phenolics brings chewiness, while apple is joined by a whisper of quince and a grapefruit-like note bringing some sour zestiness. Air time really sees this open out, nice texture on its dry frame with the flavours carrying neatly on the close.
2021 Mt Difficulty Long Gully Chenin Blanc
Price: RRP $28
Rating: Excellent
Fascinating nose, a sav blanc-like grassy/canned peas note, smoke, a little wildness, straw, nuts. Evident sweetness, honey, wine gums, cooked apple, evolving to a little West’s pineapple and pear. A good lick of acidity and a tiny prickle on the tongue a foil to the sweetness. Lively, hits some different buttons and draws you back for more.
2021 Astrolabe Wrekin Vineyard Chenin Blanc
Price: RRP $32
Rating: Very Good to Excellent
Smoke, straw, wet wool, quince paste. Drier palate than the nose might suggest, quince again and a touch of apricot kernel adding an attractive bittersweet note. Good weight and richness, with an underlying tanginess lending freshness, a sense of coolness running right through the palate driven by a hint of stony minerality.
