2014

Picnic Earnscleugh / Alexandra

Riesling

PICNIC

Featuring the Proprietor’s Grandfather, Sydney Neill – Wine Merchant, on the label, Picnic Riesling is our perennial favourite and a wonderful introduction to the pleasure of Central Otago Riesling. We think it is just as much a dinner wine as a luncheon – equally enjoyable at home outdoors, as at the Captain’s Table.

Not for sale, please contact us for more information.

2014 Picnic Riesling image

Vintage Comment:

A cool spring produced slow growth until November, which along with parts of December, was above average warmth. Flowering started in the first week of December and lasted over three weeks. All vines including the Rieslings were only green thinned and shoulders removed in the same pass. Very little disease pressure and we harvested on the 16th April 2014.

Winemaker’s Notes:

Stone fruit and spice aromatics followed by a supple and superbly textured mouth-feel.  This wine displays great density and persistence.

Vineyard Management:

Own roots – cane cuttings from Felton Road. Single cane, one bunch per shoot, 5500 vines per hectare. Shoot and lateral thinned, and leaf plucked. Hand harvested on the 16th of April 2014.

Soil:   Gravelly loamy silt

pH  3.00 -- TA   7.8 g/L -- Alc  12.5% -- R/S:  Off dry, 6-10g/L

Proprietor: Sam Neill

Viticulturist:  Mike Wing

Winemaker:  Dean Shaw

Bottled: 24 July 2014

Total Production: 460 cases

Cellaring: 2014 – 2019

Award / Reviewer Date Rating Review
The Wine Gang Jun 2017 88 Points Read More

As Haynes Hanson & Clark (UK) are still on the 2014 vintage it may be that this zingy off-dry Riesling doesn't sell all that quickly. It deserves to. Age has give it the kerosene/petrol whiff that Riesling sometimes acquires, and which is so much more appetising than it sounds, but the palate remains focused on juicy, lime and apple refreshment.