2023 Riley Harrison Sol Blanc

WINEMAKER: Riley Harrison
REGION: McLaren Vale, SA
VARIETY: Roussanne, Grenache Blanc
VITICULTURE: Organic

A nod to the blended white wines of Southern France. This blend is 75% Roussanne, 25% Grenache Blanc and 5% Picpoul; the Roussanne and Grenache Blanc are sourced from the meticulously farmed Yangarra Estate vineyard. The Picpoul is grown by the Macauley family. Texture is the key with this wine. The Roussanne spends 2 days on skins and the Grenache Blanc is left for 24 hours. Silty, chalky, powdery. Licks of freshly cut pear, sugared almond and a subtle preserved lemon note, flow effortlessly through a fine dusting of powdery tannin. Don't drink this wine too cold and drink it with gusto.

Harrison Wines defy convention – the convention and constraint of a nine-five job led Riley Harrison to seek a creative outlet, and in 2015, with a humble tonne of Grenache, this vision became a bottled reality. In pursuit of perfume, texture, and drinkability, Riley crossed regional boundaries to secure small parcels of fruit from vineyards in the Adelaide Hills, McLaren Vale and Barossa Valley.

With an emphasis firmly on fruit quality and varietal expression, Riley’s winemaking style weaves between the lines of conventional and minimal-intervention. “Minimal intervention winemaking can be divisive and can focus too much on the minimalist process, rather than the outcome of the final wine. Strangely, doing less requires a far greater attention to detail in the winery. It's the complex interaction of science, creativity and environment in a bid to generate flavour that I find intoxicating" The resulting creatively charged wines are the outlet Riley was searching for. Harrison Wines has been an exploratory journey into the world of aromatic excitement and textural pleasure. He won’t be returning to the nine-five anytime soon.