Scores

93/100

Eden Valley Riesling from a great vintage – one of the great buys in the world of wine. The name Wilberforce brought back memories of long ago days at Law School, not all of them pleasant, and having to digest the endless judgments of Lord Wilberforce of the Privy Council (and much more). Or possibly the Bishop Wilberforce about whom T. H. Huxley said, after the poor Bishop was thrown from his horse and killed when his head hit a rock, “for once, reality and his brain came into contact, and the result was fatal.” Lord Wilberforce was actually the great-grandson of the unfortunate Bishop. But no, none of these. Rather, an ancestor of today’s Aulds, William Patrick Auld, had a horse which would only carry him (it was not the horse which threw our member of the cloth). That horse was called Wilberforce. No idea why. Anyway, it has now been celebrated with these wines. The wine – a very pale lemon hue. The nose has notes of spices, river stones, citrus, grapefruit and florals. A very aromatic style of Riesling, delightfully fragrant with notes of jasmine. The palate continues the lemony theme and provides a chalky support. There is very good length here, a linear style with fine acidity. It will drink beautifully for the next ten to twelve years.

Ken Gargett – Winepilot.com