Description / Reviews
// Organic Old Vine Semillon
"Oria Riff's Dry White comes from Fiona Wood's pristine block of old vine Semillon. Planted in the 1960's, these vines have deep tap roots that can explore the 30m+ sand to find stable sources of ground water through these dry seasons. With lower crops then 2024, the fruit already showed lovely concentration and flavour in the picking bins. This year I did a couple of picks on this block for blending components but predominantly used the first pick for its precise, driven texture. This years release shows the bright future for focused, precise mediterranean whites." - Cooper Davis-Draper, Oria Riff Winemaker
"The second release from Fiona Wood’s 1960s vineyard on deep sand; old oak, full mlf. A dry year and an early pick. Well, three picks, with the first the core of the wine. This is a superb follow up to the brilliant ’24. It has less of the insistent umami notes, but is no less for it. There’s such depth at low abv, and also a feeling of matter, of extract. Saline, waxy, chalky, with ozone beach scents. Lemon leaves and pith, pink apples, sun-dried linen, cracked coriander seeds, fennel pollen, makrut lime flesh, a tonic quality, white miso, packing straw, comté rind. It’s got a little more flesh through the middle, but the game is still electric tension. The first release was no fluke, with this quickly becoming one of my favourite Vale whites." - 95+ Points, Marcus Ellis, Halliday Wine Companion
"Personality. Character. Writ large. In fact so much so that some folks may well find this wine off-putting. It smells strongly of custard powder, hay, soil, lemon and aromatic herbs, and while the palate matches these characters it adds wax, brine and mandarin-peel. I personally love this wine, it keeps me guessing and keeps me interested, but it definitely needs the accompaniment of food and it’s destined to be divisive." - 93+ Points, Campbell Mattinson
