Villa Maria Reserve Botrytis Selection Marlborough Noble Riesling 2018 (375ml)

Villa Maria Reserve Botrytis Selection Marlborough Noble Riesling 2018 (375ml)Sweet dessert style Candied citrus peel Toffee & ginger spice Floral notes This 2018 Reserve Noble Riesling offers candied citrus peel, toffee, apricot, honeysuckle and ginger spice on the nose. Fresh acidity and the Riesling grape phenolics create a deceptively lively and fresh palate. Flavours are layered with spice, florals, orange marmalade and a zippy acid backbone. Producing Botrytis Selection Riesling is comparative to the transition of an

• Sweet-dessert style
• Candied citrus peel
• Toffee & ginger spice
• Floral notes

This 2018 Reserve Noble Riesling offers candied citrus peel, toffee, apricot, honeysuckle and ginger spice on the nose. Fresh acidity and the Riesling grape phenolics create a deceptively lively and fresh palate. Flavours are layered with spice, florals, orange marmalade and a zippy acid backbone.

Producing Botrytis Selection Riesling is comparative to the transition of an "ugly duckling" of dried botrytis fruit into a "beautiful swan" of densely concentrated dessert wine.

Located on the central valley floor of the Wairau Valley, the Fletcher Vineyard is characterised by free-draining alluvial soils. Pruned to balance the site naturally, Riesling grapes are first encouraged to ripen, then noble botrytis is encouraged through autumnal dews and crisp cool weather. With careful late season management, the fruit is harvested after the botrytis has drawn much of the berries' moisture, concentrating sugars, acids and flavour.

The climate in Marlborough has high sunshine hours, however, the temperatures during the growing season are regulated by the cooling ocean influence. The 2018 growing season started with an excellent spring and a strong flowering period which was followed by a long spell of hot weather with regular rainfall events through the summer months. With ample soil moisture, our harvest started earlier than the previous two vintages, luckily the cooler autumn weather helped retain natural acidities as the season progressed.