Castle Rock Estate has released a tranche of new vintage Rieslings, showcasing the strength of the Porongurup region.
The Porongurup region sits with the Great Southern region, 40 km north of Western Australia’s south coast regional centre Albany. It is named for the spectacular Porongurup Range, a 1200-million-year-old ancient mountain that cradles the unique region.
Planted in 1983, the Castle Rock Estate vineyard is set high in these Ranges. “The elevation, 300 metres, and the position of the vineyard, which exposes the vines to cooling south-east breezes results in a prolonged growing season. This enables our Riesling vines, which are heat sensitive and early to ripen, to develop maximum varietal flavour and ripeness while maintaining natural acidity and balance,” explains Winemaker and owner Rob Diletti.
The new estate grown 2023 wines comprise the 2023 Castle Rock Estate ‘A&W’ Riesling, 2023 Castle Rock Estate Riesling and 2023 Castle Rock Estate ‘Skywalk’ Riesling. These are complemented with the 2022 Castle Rock Estate ‘Diletti’ Riesling
The 2023 Riesling harvest began at Castle Rock in mid-March. The modest fruit set meant there was a wide range of ripeness, even within the same block, making harvest decisions particularly difficult. The rain, never far away in the Porongurups, did start sporadically in March, adding to the challenge. The vineyard was prepared judiciously and ensured that very high-quality grapes were delivered to the winery with no disease and exceptional flavours.
The 2023 Castle Rock Estate ‘A&W’ Riesling is sourced from the best performing blocks; hand harvested fruit from best rows. It was chilled overnight, then whole bunch pressed to 450 litre per tonne with light solids included in ferment. The wine was left on lees for four months post-ferment to build some texture to complement the pristine Riesling fruit. It is a wine that will cellar comfortable for over 20 years.
The 2022 Castle Rock Estate ‘Diletti’ Riesling is about texture and complexity built around the tight Riesling structure yet still displaying its Riesling DNA; free-run juice filled to oak prior to fermentation with a varying amount of juice solids in each barrel. We then matured the wine on lees in older French Puncheons for ten months with minimal stirring prior to bottling.
Pricing and distribution: The Castle Rock Estate wines are distributed in NSW by IS Wine, in Victoria by Wholesale Wine Services and in WA by Fine Wine Wholesalers. The wines are available at castlerockestate.com.au
2023 Castle Rock Estate ‘A&W’ Riesling, $45
Harvest: 05/04/23 | Alc: 12.0% | pH: 2.99 | T.A.: 9.4g/L | R.S.: 0.1g/L
2022 Castle Rock Estate ‘Diletti’ Riesling, $38
Harvest: 21/03/22 | Alc: 12.0% | pH: 3.08 | T.A.: 8.6g/L | R.S.: 0.0g/L
2023 Castle Rock Estate Riesling, $32
Harvest: 22/03/23 | Alc: 12.0% | pH: 2.92 | T.A.: 8.3g/L | R.S.: 0.4g/L
2023 Castle Rock Estate ‘Skywalk’ Riesling, $26
Harvest: 22/03/23 | Alc: 11.8% | pH: 3.20 | T.A.: 6.8g/L | R.S.: 0.2g/L
For further information and images please contact:
- David Cumming at Define Wine Marketing & Communications on 0414 736 342 or david@definewine.com.au
- Rob Diletti, Winemaker at Castle Rock on 0447 531 035 or rob@castlerockestate.com.au
Castle Rock Estate is nestled on the eastern slopes of the Porongurup Mountain and is named after a prominent nearby granite landmark. The vineyard, which sits in Great Southern’s sub region Porongurup, has a cool and elevated northerly aspect, resulting in intensely flavoured wines, particularly Riesling, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir. The vineyard was established in 1983 by Angelo and Wendy Diletti and is now run by their son Rob. Their 200-tonne winery was constructed in 2000. In 2015 Rob Diletti was named Wine Companion Winemaker of the Year. Rob was a finalist in the 2019 Gourmet Traveller Wine Magazine Winemaker of the Year awards and a finalist in the 2022 Wine Companion ‘Best Value Winery’ Awards.
