2023 Riley Harrison Blanca i Tinta
WINEMAKER: Riley Harrison
REGION: Barossa Valley, SA
VARIETY: Garnacha Tinta, Garnacha Blanca
VITICULTURE: Organic
75% Garnacha Tinta - 2/3 direct pressed back on top of 1/3 whole bunches 25% Garnacha Blanca - whole berries co-fermented with the tinta component 27 days on skins. Pressed to seasoned french oak barriques. 6 months elevage prior to bottling. Another wine that is driven by texture. Wild strawberry, tart cherry and subtle herbal edge
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.