LoosenBarry 2017 Wolta Wolta Dry Riesling
The friendship between Ernst Loosen, of the Dr. Loosen Estate in Germany, and Peter Barry, of Jim Barry Wines, Australia, began in 1995 at the London Wine Fair. Forged out of mutual respect for the noble variety Riesling, this collaboration of ideas pays homage to the wine making techniques used by the Loosen family for generations, and the vineyard practices of the Barry family.
The German-style Riesling made in Australia is called Wolta Wolta, (Aboriginal for 'good water') in honour of one the Barry family's most significant and successful land purchases, which later became known as Lodge Hill. The Australian-style Riesling, made with grapes from the Erdener Treppchen Vineyard in Germany, is called Walhalla, (pronounced Valhalla) named after the majestic hall ruled over by Odin in Norse mythology.
It was no simple task for an Australian winemaker to make a German-style Riesling and vice versa, but when each winemaker can draw on forty years of experience of their counterpart, the possibilities are genuinely intriguing, and even though Peter and Tom Barry were uncertain they could make such a different style of Riesling, they were delighted with the outcome.
This project is not about sales. This is a project of passion, designed to test the skills, explore the possibilities, and hopefully, get people thinking about Riesling in a different way.
*6 bottle limit*
On 17 March 2017, five tonnes of Riesling was hand harvested and sorted from Block 18 (planted in 1979) at our Lodge Hill vineyard. It was a week later than normal as we were looking for a greater hang time. Juice analysis was very good at 12 Baumé with a pH of 3.1 and 7.5 total acid.
Following German-style wine making, fruit was stored in a cold room overnight to bring the temperature below 10 ̊C. Once destemmed and crushed, the fruit was then pressed into stainless steel for 12 hours to settle, before being racked into the 2,800 litre German oak ‘Fuder’ cask, which was gifted from Ernie himself in 2015. The light lees were racked which assisted a wild ferment to take place after five days. Fermentation took four weeks with the temperature maintained at 18 ̊C. When residual sugar was below 10g/L, cooling was turned on to arrest the fermentation at 6g/L, achieving sugar- acid balance. The wine then rested on full yeast lees for 12 months at 10 ̊C before being transferred to stainless steel where it sat on fine lees at 0 ̊C for a further 11 months.
Our inaugural 2017 Wolta Wolta was bottled on 14 January 2019 and, after spending a year in bottle, was released on 21 February 2020.
Tasting Notes
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