The Judge honours third generation Douglas Seabrook who worked in the family business W.J. Seabrook & Sons. Doug remains the longest serving chairman of judges at the Royal Melbourne Wine Awards, serving for more than 30 years. In his day, he was instrumental in progressing Australian wine, passionately championing emerging varietals and wine styles. Doug’s legacy lives on in this wine and is a reminder of his influence and the family’s passion for the industry. TASTING NOTE: The 2021 Riesling is a bright and aromatic wine with a beautiful nose of zesty lemons, limes, white blossom and apple. These complex and delicate aromatics carry over to the palate providing fine mineral like acidity with amazing length and intensity. VINEYARD: Sourced from a single site in Springton, this 60-year old vineyard lies in a secluded valley and consequently ripens much later than surrounding areas. This vineyard produces Rieslings with pristine quality reflected in their minerality, citrus fruit & spiciness, holding great finesse particularly as they age. HARVEST: 2021 is a vintage that is proving to be exceptional for the Barossa Valley; high quality fruits but a low-yielding vintage across the board. Average rainfall for the growing season saw soils topped up nicely, and additional rainfall in Spring, alongside warmer temperatures resulted in good canopy growth and bunch formation. Above average temperatures throughout early Summer did create concern, but thankfully mild temperatures set in during veraison, allowing for a slower ripening period. WINEMAKING: The Riesling was machine harvested in the cool of night to ensure that a minimal amount of oxidation occurred. The grapes were transferred to the winery where they were top loaded to a tank press to minimise oxidation and maceration. Gently pressed, the free-run juice was cold settled for 24 hours then racked with a very light fluffy solids content. A German isolated yeast strain was used in small quantities and inoculated to the cold juice. The wine was cool-fermented (9-12oC) in stainless steel for 18 days. After fermentation, the wine was left on light lees for 4 weeks to minimise oxidation and stirred occasionally to aid texture. The wine had a small amount of pressings added back to enhance the flavour profile, was then cold filtered and bottled immediately to retain the freshness and varietal expression.