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(Archive)
THE AGE, A2 Magazine
Mount Horrocks Cordon Cut Riesling 2006
You don’t have to be a dessert fan to appreciate this wine – just a lover of intense, sweetie styles. Chill it down but not too much, as you want to smell its wonderful, intense aromatics of honeysuckle, candied citrus and honey.
Jane Faulkner
Saturday 28th July
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Gourmet Traveller WINE
100 TOP NEW RELEASES
June/July 2007
Mount Horrocks Cordon Cut Riesling 2006
93 Points
Floral, tea-leaf and caramel aromas of shriveled grapes, plus honey and crème brulée notes. There is some acid firmness and a little bitterness to conclude, which helps give it a clean finish. Lively and delicious.
Huon Hooke
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THE AGE, Epicure Magazine
Autumn 2007
Ralph Kyte-Powell
1/2
Mount Horrocks Cordon Cut Riesling 2006
There are several ways of obtaining the sugar levels in grapes to make truly luscious sweet white wines. In cordon cutting, ripe bunches of grapes are cut from the vine, but left hanging on the trellis to concentrate the sweet juice by part-drying. The result in this Clare Valley sweetie is a juicy, grapey confection that retains some floral and citrus varietal cues, along with considerable sweetness and intensity, and a firm backbone.
Ageing? Drink over three years.
Food ideas: Peaches topped with brown sugar and grilled.
8th May 2007
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Sydney Morning Herald - Good Living Magazine
Mount Horrocks Cordon Cut Riesling 2006
BEST STICKY
93/100
A very sweet, non-botrytised Clare Valley wine. Aromas of honey and crème brulee; floral, caramel and tea leaf. Concentrated, with firm acidity and a trace of bitterness countering the considerable sweetness.
Food: crème brulee
Huon Hooke
April 2007
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Sydney Morning Herald - Good Weekend Magazine
Saturday 3rd March 2007
Mount Horrocks 2006 Clare Valley Cordon Cut Riesling
Grapes partly dried on the vine; no botrytis. Honey and crème brulee aromas; floral, caramel, tealeafy. Concentrated, flavour-packed, a touch of hardness.
With summer pudding.
Huon Hooke
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Sydney Morning Herald, Wine Match
Saturday 9th December
2006 Mount Horrocks Cordon Cut Riesling
Mount Horrocks Cordon Cut Riesling 2006, $32 (375ml), is made by cutting the cordon, or arm, of the vine so that the grapes shrivel. In this case, the technique has produced a sweet wine with the purity and citric zing of a high-quality dry riesling, but with enough sweetness to handle dessert. Fresh, pristine and bursting with limes, it’s an excellent choice with a dessert like this.
Matched with Steve Manfredi’s: Summer stone fruits with rosewater, lemon and mint
Greg Duncan Powell
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Wine Spectator Buying Guide
November 2006
2005 Mount Horrocks Cordon Cut Riesling
94 points
Sweet and rich, yet beautifully lifted with lacy acidity. A wine of refinement that weaves passion fruit, lime and green plum notes through the rich, classic Riesling fruit. Finishes with impeccable balance.
Drink now through 2020
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Jeremy Oliver
www.jeremyoliver.com.au
The Australian Wine Annual 2007
95 points
Mount Horrocks Cordon Cut Riesling 2005
Intensely flavoured, smooth and luscious, this very stylish and youthful dessert wine finishes with freshness and brightness. Its limey aromas of white peaches, apricots and minerals have a lifted floral quality, while its unctuous tropical and citrusy palate is backed by a dusty, chalky undercarriage and wrapped up by a clean balanced acidity.
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DIVINEONLINE
Divine Food and Wine
Selected Wine by Alex Reddaway
1 August 2006
2005 Mount Horrocks Cordon Cut Riesling (screwcap)
This is the dancing queen, young and sweet, feel the tangerine, oh yeah! And the honeysuckle and floral spice. And the beautiful zippiness of acid.The canes for this bright shining number are cut when the bunches are still attached to the vine, which helps the grapes to become raisined and concentrated in flavour. What results is a wine that is at once subtle yet intense in flavour, complexity and balance with wonderful length. There's not a hint of botrytis, and it weighs in at only 11.5% alcohol. So have another glass. The Cordon Cut has developed quite a solid reputation over the years and is a fantastic example of what can be achieved with great Clare Valley Riesling and an innovative approach to conventional viticultural practice. It should hold its own for five to eight years.
July/August 06 edition by Josh Raynolds
Mount Horrocks 2005 Clare Valley Cordon Cut Riesling
Bright gold. Luscious, honeyed aromas of vivid peach, apricot, poached pear and orange peel. A refreshingly bitter note of blood orange adds energy to the flavors of tangerine, apricot and white peach, with a tangy note of cinnamon perking up the back end. Finishes with impressive length and a sappy peach quality. 93
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HUON HOOKE
GOURMET TRAVELLER WINE APRIL/MAY 2006
100 TOP NEW RELEASE WINES
Clare Valley, A$32 (375ml)
Not made from botrytised grapes, this powerful, late-picked riesling is a smart wine and offers great intensity of riesling fruit coupled with lots of sweetness, enlivened by fresh acidity. Great length and drive on the palate. Drink young.
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MAX ALLEN
GOURMET TRAVELLER WINE FEB/MAR 2006
UPPER CUT
Pure but not so simple, riesling, with its sharp slash of acidity and wide range of styles, provides a cheese-matching challenge.
WINE: 2005 MOUNT HORROCKS CORDON CUT RIESLING
Clare Valley, A$32.95 (375ml)
Stephanie Toole's Mount Horrocks Cordon Cut is one of the most consistent and brilliant sweet rieslings in the country. Towards the end of the growing season, the fruit-bearing canes of Toole's riesling vines are snipped and left to hang on the trellis wire, detached from the trunk of the vine. The grapes then start to dry out, increasing the sugar concentration without sacrificing acidity or - crucially - intense riesling flavour. The result is a bright golden wine with incredible sweet intensity and wonderful, pure, limy varietal character.
CHEESE: Kervella Fresh Goat Curd
CONCLUSION: The riesling's purity was effortlessly matched with the freshness and cleanliness of the curd - although we found that serving the cheese on thin slices of simple crusty sourdough baguette, with a smear of fruit paste (we found a mandarin paste worked wonderfully) made it an even better pairing
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Peter Forrestal and Sophie Otten
The Bulletin Dec20, 2005 - Jan10, 2006
Wine - Happy New Cheers-
'.our top 20 wines of 2006.'
2005 Mount Horrocks "Cordon Cut" Riesling $32 (375ml)
Outstanding dessert wines are rare in Australia . Stephanie Toole at Mount Horrocks in the Clare Valley has made a niche in the market for her consistently good "Cordon Cut" from a single vineyard in Watervale. The 2005 vintage was outstanding and the "Cordon Cut" is hauntingly delicious, floral, with sweet grapey flavours and a hint of lime juice. Above all, there is lightness, finesse, intensity of flavour and delicate natural acidity balancing the sweetness on the finish. It's at its best with lighter-bodied dishes such as fresh fruit salad or pavlova. PF
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by Tim White, What to Drink
The
Australian Financial Review Life & Leisure August 5-7
2005
Mount Horrocks Cordon Cut 2004
(Clare Valley, SA)
Fragrant, floral nettley smelling, with some gardenia.
Attacks gentle with sweet tangerine and
nectarine flavours and nettle musk florals. Long and
subtly caramelised with poached pears. Some cold tea
too. Rich and salty zippy. Will be even better with
a few more years in bottle.
92(94)/100,
$33 (per 375ml).
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Wine
Spectator USA,
June 15 2005
Harvey Steinman's
Recommended White Wines from Australia ..
Mount
Horrocks Cordon Cut Clare Valley 2004
94
points
Those
who love sweet Rieslings will appreciate Mount
Horrocks Riesling Clare Valley Cordon Cut 2004.
..Stephanie Toole, makes the unctuous
dessert wine from grapes she allows to raisin on the
vine. There is no botrytis, but the wine is extraordinarily
complex and balanced.
Amazingly
subtle, with hints of mayflowers, honey, pineapple and
apricot that pick up speed through the elegant finish.
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WINE by Ray Jordan
The
West Australian Thurs, 3 Feb 2005
Mount
Horrocks Cordon Cut Riesling 2004.
An unusual
wine in that the fruit is left to concentrate on the
vine after the canes that connect the fruit to the vine
have been cut. The wine is deliciously sweet but with
a dryish finish distinguished by crisp acid and a tight
tart acidity. Nice lemony characters and a delightful
lift that would balance even quite sweet food.
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26 Jan 2005
Harvey Steiman
www.winespectator.com
These are the most exciting discoveries from our editors’
most recent tastings, published exclusively in . They are high-scoring, low-production
wines from around the world that may be difficult to
find, but are worth seeking out.
An Aussie original, Cordon Cut is the work of , who cuts the canes while the Riesling
grapes are still on the vine, allowing them to concentrate
naturally. The wine is stunning, sweet and rich, but
beautifully balanced with enough lacy acidity to keep
it feeling fresh and lively. It’s amazingly subtle,
with hints of mayflowers, honey, pineapple and apricot
that pick up speed and amplitude as they race through
the long, elegant finish.
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PERFECT MATCH
Nectarine crostata and dessert wine
Rich, caramelized fruit flavours are most effectively
matched with a great sticky.
2004 Mount Horrocks Cordon Cut Riesling
375ml, $28.
One of Australia’s top sweet wines, made from
grapes that have been left to hang and shrivel on the
vine. This tastes like superb Clare Valley riesling
with the sweetness volume knob turned up as far as it
will go.
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Serve with
Fresh Air
chooses wines to match
Poached Peaches with Vanilla Zabaglione
Mount Horrocks Cordon Cut Riesling 2004
The golden rule with matching wine to dessert is to
make the wine sweeter than the dessert. If it’s
the other way around, the wine will taste thin and sour.
But a light dessert such as this one doesn’t demand
a treacly, unctuous, botrytised monster. Something sweet,
fresh and crisp is ideal.
Try Mount Horrocks Cordon Cut Riesling 2004, $33.00.
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Top Drops
Mount Horrocks Clare Valley
Cordon Cut Riesling 2004
$32.75 375ml
For a sticky with lots of ooh-aah excitement try Stephanie
Toole’s 2004 Cordon Cut, made from riesling
grapes raisened on the wine. The keynotes are pure,
floral and citrus varietal character, luscious sweetness,
exquisite delicacy and a brisk, cleansing racy freshness.
It really is a stunning, pristine drop expressing the
great beauty of the riesling grape grown in the Clare
Valley. Screw cap sealed in half bottles it’s
set to develop further complexity gradually and gracefully
over many years. Cellar door phone number is 08 8849
2243
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2004 World Wine Awards
AUSTRALIA :
best of the golds
WHITE/SWEET Australian Sweet Trophy over £10
Bright gold. Lifted botrytis. Great acidity balancing
the intense sweetness.
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PETER
BOURNE
The Sydney Magazine, Sydney Morning Herald,
September 2004
2003 Mount Horrocks Cordon Cut Riesling
Clare
Valley, SA
375ml $33.50
Another ripper from Mount Horrocks owner / winemaker
Stephanie Toole, offering intense aromas
of ripe stonefruits and pineapple. The palate is equally
exciting. Its sweetness, depth and intensity are delicately
balanced by a grapefruity acidity. Try with a classic
lemon tart.
STEPHEN
TANZER
2003 Mount Horrocks Wines Cordon Cut Riesling Clare
Valley
July/August 2004
93/100
Pale green-tinged yellow color. Fascinating high-toned
aromas of orange peel, minerals, clove, fresh sage and
exotic herbs (I was reminded of Benedictine and Chartreuse).
Then impressively dense, superconcentrated and penetrating,
with precise flavors of pineapple and grapefruit complicated
by hints of dried herbs, orange liqueur and honey. Finishes
fat and extremely long. Supersweet but not at all over
the top; this would be perfect with foie gras. This
was made from grapes that were not affected by botrytis.
(USD$27; for 37 ml.)
SCOTT
WASLEY
Divine Food & Wine Magazine - July/Sept
2004
2003 Mount Horrocks Cordon Cut Riesling $30/375ml
"Although a sweetie (erroneously termed dessert wines
in Australia), this smells first and foremost of riesling.
And quite specifically of Clare riesling. There's an
earthy minerality, and green-gold flashing ripe-rinded
citrus aromas. Although full, it's harmonious, elegant
and floral, rather than simple from amped-up sugar.
The palate is a perfect balance between the fullness
and sweet viscosity of late-picked character and the
linear, tensile tendencies of riesling. In fact, the
driving length wins out on a long flavoursome palate
which is always more mandarin-marmalade than mandarin-oil.
Complex and delicious already, with a lovely spiced-acid
finish, this will be a star for years. Year in, year
out, this wine has been very close to the top of the
heap in Aussie sweeties, and 03 is no exception. All
the flavour of those big fat botrytised buggers but
with twice the style and eminently more drinkable. Yum,
yum."
HUON HOOKE
RALPH KYTE-POWELL
The Melbourne Age Epicure Uncorked
25
May 2004
MOUNT HORROCKS CORDON CUT 2003
$33/375ml
This late-harvest sweetie is not botrytis-affected,
but has cashew-nut, floral, doughy and toasty aromas:
fruit aplenty on palate and medium sweetness. It has
lovely balance and loads of appeal. One for those tired
of the very sweet super-stickies
Food fruit salad. Ageing best now to 2006.
HARVEY
STEIMAN
THE WINE SPECTATOR, USA ,June 15 2004
AUSTRALIA'S WHITE WINE EXPRESS
TOP DESSERT WINES
Mount Horrocks Cordon Cut Clare Valley 2002
94 Points
Ripe, sweet and spicy with a core of vibrant pineapple,
pear, apricot and honey flavors that persist gloriously
on the well-balanced finish. Riesling
2003
Mount Horrocks Cordon Cut Riesling
Clare Valley, SA, $33.50 (375ml).
Australian Gourmet Traveller April 2004
STICKY by Peter Bourne
Another ripper from Stephanie Toole :
The colour is pale brass; the intense aromas are of
fresh apricots, ripe stone fruits and pineapple. The
palate is equally exciting with a sweetness, depth and
intensity perfectly balanced by the refreshing zest
of grapefruity acidity.
Perfect with lemon tart.
A tremendous, sweet Riesling, unctuous but not cloying.
Smells like ripe green apples; tastes like petrol at
palate entry, but melts seamlessly into lovely, floral
and sweet chalk flavors. Winemaker Stephanie Toole says
that it "actually goes with desserts.it doesn't fight
with them." Amen sister.
Stephanie Toole cuts the bunches from her Riesling vines
when they're ripe, and then leaves them hanging to concentrate
further. The result is an exceptionally balanced dessert
wine, with fresh pear and peach nectar flavors set into
a structure that keeps it beautifully clean. It's a
honeyed evocation of Clare, to sip on its own or with
heirloom pears next autumn.
Max Allen states the case for taking wine more seriously,
and picks out 10 top-quality producers who show just
what's possible.
For the Sweet Tooth
Although many people are familiar with Australia's rich,
unctuous botrytis-affected Semillon, not so well known
are producers such as Stephanie Toole
in the Clare Valley who also make much more refined
dessert wines like this super-aromatic, pure, crystalline
sweet Riesling.
A pristine and refreshing dessert wine offering a heady
bouquet and penetrative late harvest fruit qualities,
scented with musky aromas of rose petals and fresh pear,
lime juice and lemon rind. Its luscious, long, racy
palate of apple, pear and limey fruit revels in its
concentration and purity, but finishes clean refreshing.
Gorgeously ripe, sweet and spicy around a glowing center
of vibrant pineapple, pear, apricot and honey flavours,
which persist gloriously on the extraordinary well-balanced
finish. A sweet wine that calls for a second glass.
Riesling. Drink now though 2015.
Australia has many fine dessert wines, but this stands
out. The grape stems are cut but not severed and the
fruit is left on the vine to wither. This produces a
super-concentrated wine with fragrance of violets and
honeysuckle.
Serve with a fruit flan or fresh peaches.
£13.95 for 37.5cl
Drinking It
Desiccated apricot and peach fruit on the nose with
complexing, salty, botrytis-like characters (although
winemaker Stephanie Toole tells me
there was no botrytis!). Pear skin too. In the mouth
it's silky and viscous, really very floral with tangerine
citrus too, while lacy acidity pulls the finish on and
on. This is the best Cordon Cut I've tasted. The fruit,
incidentally, was picked in three stages commencing
at the beginning of May and concluding in the middle
of June. 93/100, $33 per 375ml
THE FULL BOTTLE
At a recent tasting of Aussie sweet wines, this stood
head and shoulders above the rest, and made even some
good stickies look unsubtle. It's a simply stunning
dessert wine - thrillingly perfumed, multi-layered,
balanced - partly a result of the great '02 vintage,
partly thanks to rigorous selection of the best fruit
in the vineyard. For stockists: sales@mounthorrocks.com
or (08) 8849 2243
This Clare Valley Riesling differs from most cultish
sweeties. There's no botrytis involved; instead the
fruit-bearing canes are cut to part dehydrate and intensify
things, making delicious sweet wine with lovely citrus,
honey and stone fruit characters. It's fresher on the
palate than its botrytised brethren, too, with brisk,
tangy acidity keeping it snappy. Ageing: Drink over
three years
Food ideas: Fresh summer fruits
$$
($25)
Pale bright yellow. Penetrating, essential riesling
aromas of lemon, apple and pear, with toasty suggestions
of honeysuckle and lime. Luscious and concentrated;
bursting with pristine citrus and apple fruit. Finishes
clean, lingering and rather sweet, with persistent flavours
of pear and lemon tart.
($25/375ml)
Stephanie Toole has made this into
a famed late-harvest wine, cutting the grape bunches
from the vine, but leaving them to hang by their tendrils
to the trellis to dry in the (she hopes) mild Clare
breezes. The grapes give a wine with honeyed richness,
a riesling with apricot and nectarine flavour that's
clean and gently sweet. There's a lovely high-toned
spice and an elegant, lasting smokiness. Ready to enjoy
on its own, or with a peach and puff pastry tart.
(92 points, 375ml, 10.5% alcohol, drink now to 2006)
Once the botrytis mould settles on her vineyard, Stephanie
Toole cuts the supporting cordons, or stems,
but leaves the bunches hanging there in the autumn foliage
so the grapes raisin and intensify in flavour without
the chance of sucking in any extra water. The result
is luscious, opulent, heady riesling, intense and complex,
with beautiful lingering acidity.
FOOD: Nuts and raisins; rye with smoked salmon, spanish
onions and fish roe.
The latest vintage of one of Australia's most popular
sweet whites is a beauty. There's an intriguing fine
aroma of the ocean, on the nose while the palate combines
elegance with a concentrated, luscious sweet taste.
Unlike most Australian sweet whites, this isn't botrytised.
Lastly, the light gold-coloured 2000 Riesling Cordon
Cut has good acidity, 11% alcohol, and a style somewhere
between sweet Auslese and Beerenauslese from Germany.
There are abundant quantities of honeysuckle and jammy
tropical fruits in addition to wonderful, refreshing
acidity to provide uplift and zest. This pure Riesling
is best drunk with fruit desserts over the next 2-4
years.
This gains its richness from partial drying of the grapes
on the vine, as opposed to botrytis. The bunch-bearing
canes are cut, and the grapes left to shrivel slightly.
The 1999 scored almost as highly as the 1999 Grosset,
which is interesting as they're made in the same winery.
The aromas are spicy, slightly gingery, and the wine
is fresh all round. It is very sweet with beautifully
focused, captivating honey and citrus flavours, and
vivacious palate of surprising length. Impressive and
lacking nothing compared to the botrytised wines. The
1993 was a good but not exiting aged wine, with modest
citrus-peel flavours. We doubt this style is for keeping.
No botrytis here, as Clare is a very dry grapegrowing
region, and botrytis isn't a frequent visitor. The concentration
is achieved by cutting the vine's canes and letting
the berries shrivel a little. Maker Stephanie
Toole.
Previous outstanding vintages: '96, '98
CURRENT RELEASE 1999 Although it's not botrytis-affected,
this is one of the finest sweet wines in Australia.
Wonderful aromas of honey, vanilla, toast and floral
varietal scents fill the glass. It's very fine and yet
intense, with luscious sweetness. Scintillating stuff,
and superb with mango millefeuille.
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