white wines	tasting notes
2023 rind riesling dry	Down in Young, NSW it’s cold. Like, cold cold. These sorts of growing conditions favour aromatic, generous Riesling styles. The nose is full of limey, flowery notes while the palate is high acid and clean, but balanced with some sweetness. This is not a bone dry style, it’s not all lean and battery acid. Its crisp with the sugar adding body and fullness to the wine as opposed to overt sweetness. Try it in it’s youth with freshly shucked oysters with a vinaigrette or wait a few years for it to go golden and toasty and have it with cooked white meats.
2022 surly pig chardonnay	The summer of 2022 was quite chilly. It wasn’t exactly one for the beach. These cooler summers lend themselves to styles of Chardonnay that Australians don’t immediately think of. This is a leaner, tighter style of chardy made in a combination of old French oak and stainless steel. Its not a yellow oak bomb, but a pale, linear wine well suited to fresh seafood. These styles also reward extended cellaring, so feel free to pop some away to drink in the 2030’s.
2023 pig latin fiano	Fiano is a newcomer to the hunter valley. Ancestrally, it’s from Naples in southern Italy. A climate not greatly dissimilar to that of the hunter valley. This climate matching led to fiano being planted here and so far it’s been a very successful exercise. The wines are medium bodied with a nice line of acidity. Notes of tinned pears are on the nose. These are quite universal wines. Easy to drink and great food matches. Try one with your next king prawn pizza.
2023 silk purse verdelho	The silk purse Verdelho has always been one of piggs peake's favourite wines. Verdelho loves the hunter valley and on the hot days, the Verdelho seems to positively bask in the suns rays. In the heat it develops a wonderful tropical array of flavours. Perfect for just enjoying a glass with friends.
2023 pork barrel viognier	viognier is one of the rarer white grapes in australia. it’s been here for a while, but is tricky to grow, so a lot of viticulturists won't touch it. this viognier was grown down in mclaren vale sa where it achieved full ripeness looking out over the ocean. the wine was aged in french oak, giving it a bit of a chardonnay looking edge. but, the trademark perfume and dried apricots that attract people to the variety are still there. this is a great wine to have with roast white meats.
2023 hogshead chardonnay	the hogshead chardonnay is piggs peake’s bigger, richer, oakier style of chardonnay. in a warm summer i often see chardonnay grapes change from green to gold and with the colour change comes a different spectrum of flavours in the grape itself. grapefruit gets replaced by ripe yellow peach and these bigger, more generous characters are able to balance and support new oak. so, we pick the grapes riper and finish the fermentation in new french oak hogsheads (and probably a few puncheons too). hogsheads are 300l barrels and puncheons are 500l barrels for those who are wondering. a typical maturation timeframe for us is about 7 months and that time in oak develops flavours, aromas and textures as well as allowing the lees(dead yeast) to impart some texture too. a classic hogshead style has hints of pineapple, peach, vanilla and grilled cashews. if the cellaring climate is well controlled this is a wine that will reward 10 or more years in the bottle. try it with white meats with richer sauces or a flavoursome fish such as salmon.
2023 piggio	pinot gris or pinot grigio, depending on your favourite way of saying it, is an interesting grape. we use a vineyard on the western side of orange where to grapes ripen to a lovely red/blue/grey colour during the growing season. during crushing and pressing, some of the colour is transferred to the juice and as a result our piggio often has a copper tinge to it. this is a full bodied white wine with a broad, rich palate. its a great drink on its own or is well suited to rich white meat dishes.
2023 rind riesling sweet	the grapes for the 2023 rind riesling (sweet) were grown down in the town of young nsw. young (or as it’s also known, the hilltops wine region) is a cool climate. very cool. that cool growing season results in grapes higher in acidity which lends them to making a sweeter style. the current version is very fragrant with a sweet start and a clean finish. it’s a bit like a lime sorbet. this sort of wine is a perfect pairing to thai food or just anything with a bit of chilli.