Castle Rock Estate’s Rob Diletti made seven different Riesling wines this year from his own property, plus plenty more for a pack of other Porongurup wineries he crafts under contract. Oh yeah, he’s neck-deep into this Riesling thing, and has been ever since taking over the winemaking at his family’s Great Southern vineyard in 2001.
After tasting through twelve vintages of the Castle Rock Estate Riesling in Sydney recently, it’s not hard to see why Rob loves the style so much. They’re remarkably consistent Riesling wines that were only marred by the inconsistencies of the tree bark in their bottle necks.
Not that I needed convincing, but it was a joy to see the glass empty-ability factor of this lineup of Riesling. What I wasn’t expecting, however, was how exotic some of those earlier releases look now too. Yes, a different era, but fascinating.
Now, before we get started on tasting notes and such, a history recap.
Angelo and Wendy Diletti took a punt on a 55-hectare property on the east side of the Castle Rock outcrop to grow grapes in 1981. On advice of a government viticulturist, they planted Traminer, Cabernet and Riesling, although only the Riesling remains to this day.
The first Castle Rock Estate vintage was in 1986, coincidentally the same year the first Pinot Noir was planted, with wines made at Alkoomi until Rob took over in 2001. Notably, the first screwcap bottling was in 2003, given how bad the run of cork-related variability of the wines between 97 and 2001 (Rob called them ‘largely undrinkable’).
While the Porongurup range is famous for granite, there are a range of soil types on the Castle Rock Estate property. The heavier soil at the top of the estate is what Rob prefers for whites, while the shallow, laterite soil at the bottom of the property is preferred for Pinot.
Meanwhile, Rob calls the winemaking for the Castle Estate Riesling ‘traditional Australian’, with free-run juice and neutral yeast. This wine is never acidified, but has been deacidified in some years and ‘good fruit doesn’t need the sugar on our site’ is the mantra, even though that goes completely against the release of a bunch of off-dry Riesling wines (which I have never loved either).
Let’s look at some wines:
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