Halo Range K2 Riesling 2022
A blend of new and old blocks, the K2 is the first time a Duke's Vineyard Riesling has ever seen some oak. Partially barrel fermented in seasoned oak, aged on lees and rested in bottle for a year before being released in August 2023, this wine is a textural wonder. 'K2' stands for 'Koolbardi Kard' which means Magpie Hill in the local indigenous Noongar language. Only 110 cases and limited magnums produced.
LIME CURD TART • LILY BLOSSOM • FLINT SMOKE
Accolades
97 points, The Real Review
Ranked #1 of 54 2022 Riesling from the Great Southern
A hyper-intense fragrant bouquet, lifted dried wildflowers, lemon pith, dry straw and dried herb aromas. The wine is tremendously intense and delicate at the same moment; a wonderful mouthful of riesling, scintillating freshness and intensity delivered with harmony and great persistence. Mouth-watering acidity and tremendous poise.
96 points, Wine Pilot
Now here is something special. There is more than a touch of Old World in this distinctive wine that delivers with panache. A portion was barrel fermented and extended lees contact added further texture. There’s a flinty edge here with distinctive bath salts. This was a very tough vintage, with rain after some intense heat, yet with fastidious vineyard work the result has been outstanding. It’s a riesling with a difference and well worth checking.
95+ points, Robert Parker Wine Advocate
The 2022 Halo Range K2 Riesling marks the first time (to my knowledge) that there has ever been an inclusion of oak in the maturation of any Riesling at this estate. While it is evident on the nose, it comes in the form of cold buttered toast, honeysuckle, beeswax, lanolin, peach fuzz, dried lavender and a lime pickle (with mustard seed and lime rind in profusion) character. In the mouth, the flavors are as the nose has promised, punctuated by searing acidity (a pH of 2.9 and total acidity of 8.2 grams per liter) that whistles across the tongue like wind through a keyhole. It is coiled, but it has breadth and richness too. This is a good move for this tiny region, an oak-matured Riesling. I've been begging producers for something like this for years. This is the first but hopefully not the last. I look forward to seeing it again in five years.
95 points, Halliday Wine Companion
Some of the wine is barrel fermented in matured oak; aged on lees. It's a great textural experience, a more mellow expression of Porongurup riesling, intriguing in its slippery glide of fruit, gentle yeasty savoury elements and faint floral and spice notes. It feels complex and generous but held well in its crispish outer edges of texture. Lots of Meyer lemon, candied ginger, lemongrass, red apple and grapefruit here. Very elegant, is the other message, just so in its gentle but precise nature. This is one for big glasses and contemplation.
Halliday Top 5 Star Winery
Halliday defines top five-stars as "Outstanding winery regularly producing wines of exemplary quality and typicity"
Appearance: very pale straw, flinty green hues
Aroma: lemon grass, talcum powder, lime peel, lifted spring florals, jasmine flower, lime curd tart, lemon blossom, green apple, refined, touch of anise, jalapeno,
Palate: ripe green lime, lemon blossom, jasmine, white nectarine, white peach, juicy, rounded refined, creamy, Chantilly cream with hint of rose water, tightly coiled, long, minerally, wet granite finish, flint; racy, precise, long, and laser focused. One to age.
The 2022 vintage shows fine balance, laser precision and complex aromatics. A cool wet winter with a very high rainfall was followed by a warm to hot and dry summer. The vines grew quickly developing excellent canopies. Bud burst was delayed which affected flowering and therefore gave lower yields. Good tannin ripeness (physiological ripeness) with deep colours was noted in red grapes. Whites and rosé showed very complex aromatics and flavours with bright acidity.
This was a year of balance and finesse with ample plushness and generosity, resulting in wines that are finely balanced and have very good aging potential.
Hand-picked grapes were meticulously sorted - on the vine and as we picked, the fruit chilled to 0C overnight, then whole bunch pressed in a tank press. A champagne-style press cycle was used with minimal rotations to minimise colour and phenolic/tannin pick up. Cool fermented at 15C in stainless steel with selected yeast (QA23) for aromatic whites for three weeks, a small portion was put into seasoned French oak barrels to explore what textural element this could bring.
This was highly successful; so much so that we held a small portion back for longer aging on lees (grape and yeast solids). We crafted a wine of equal parts of old and young vine components which aged on lees for four months, developing a rich textural support to the explosive fruit power.
Bottled in August 2022, we have held this for an additional year to be released alongside the 2023 Magpie Hill Reserve as the pinnacle expression of Riesling form the 2022 vintage.
- Vintage 2022
- Alcohol 11.8%
- Vineyard 100% Estate Grown
- Varietal Riesling
- Bottling date August 2022
- Region Great Southern, Western Australia
- Sub-region Porongurup
- Residual sugar 0.45 g/l
- pH 2.9
- Acidity 8.2 g/l
This Riesling pairs well with figs and proscuitto.