2021 Kusuda Riesling

WINEMAKER: Hiro Kusuda
REGION: Martinborough, NZ
VARIETAL: Riesling
VITICULTURE: Sustainable

"A bone-dry Riesling with amazing purity and power. Lemon blossom and lime laced with a fine saline-mineral character. Laser-fine acidity emphasises the wine's purity and drives a lingering finish. An extraordinary wine with great cellaring potential." - Bob Campbell MW

Tokyo-born Hiroyuki (known as Hiro) Kusuda trained as a lawyer and worked for Fujitsu, then the Consulate General of Japan in Sydney before giving it all up to pursue his other love, wine and winemaking. He went to Germany, learned the language, enrolled at Geisenheim and then emigrated to New Zealand to pursue both Riesling and Pinot grapes – to which a third challenge, Syrah, has now been added. The choice of New Zealand in general and Martinborough in particular apparently came about through tasting the 1992 Ata Rangi Pinot Noir.