Wine Profile
Tasting Notes
“This offers much in the way of juicy, succulent limes with a fresh, zipped-up palate. Neat, dry style here. Drink now.” 91 points, James Suckling; 10/30/18
Ratings
"Very lively, with good cut from start to finish, as peach, yellow and green apple and honeysuckle notes stream through, backed by a lingering mineral hint. Drink now through 2020. 5,825 cases made.” 90 points, Wine Spectator; James Molesworth, 2/28/18
Awards
“The 2016 Dry Riesling is a blend of 16 Falls Vineyard on shale and White Springs Vineyard on limestone, unoaked, dry (just four grams of sugar) and coming in at 12.6% alcohol. Owner-winemaker Morton Hallgren called this "an unusually ripe vintage," allowing more time with skin contact. Although the statistics don't look very different than on its sibling this issue, this is a little friendlier, showing a bit more up-front fruit and less austerity as it airs and warms. I liked them both a lot, but I'd pick this if I had to choose today, a minor preference, which makes this an even better value than the White Springs single-vineyard wine this issue. Perhaps not quite as concentrated and not quite as age-worthy, this is still pretty close. It does everything beautifully, and then adds that extra touch of fruit. I won't be surprised if the answer is different in a few years in comparing the two—in fact, I suspect it will be—but the balance here is very good. Overall, this is a fine example of the value you can find in fairly basic FLX categories. This will go a bit better with food, I suspect, but it can do well on its own too.
Owner-winemaker Morton Hallgren is one of the high-profile producers in the region. He told me that the main developments at Ravines over the last few years concern their vineyard situation: "From our humble beginnings in 2002, when we owned no vineyards, we have gradually moved to owning and leasing 130 acres of vineyards." The result is that, today, they own or lease all the vineyards they work, with the exception of the Argetsinger Vineyard, which will remain in the hands of Sam's family. Hallgren supposes that, "in the greater scheme of things, 16 years is not such a long period of time when we talk about vineyards." While most of their wines have already qualified for the "Estate Grown" designation on the label, it is only with the 2016 vintage that they have started to use this designation. By the time they bottle up the 2017 vintage, Hallgren says, all of their wines will either have the "Estate Grown" designation or will come from the Argetsinger Vineyard.” 91 Points, The Wine Advocate; Mark Squires, 4/27/18
Vineyard Notes
Estate grown from the White Springs & 16 Falls vineyards, consisting of clones 198, 239, and 90. Exceptionally warm and sunny season resulting in very small cluster and ripeness. Harvest brix were between 21.8 - 22.8 Bx. These grapes were machine and hand harvested.
Production Notes
Hand harvested grapes from White Springs & 16 Falls vineyards were whole cluster pressed. The machine harvested fraction were given skin contact prior to pressing. All components were fermented at low temperature in temperature controlled stainless steel tanks. After racking, components were aged on lighter lees over winter until April.