17 Apr 08 - After his visit to Capel Vale, US Steve Pitcher reviews Capel Vale's Whispering Hill vineyard

The gateway to WA's “Riesling Country” is about 220 miles southeast of Perth on the Albany Highway where the Great Southern, Australia's largest wine region, unfolds. The vast isolated, rectangular area stretches approximately 65 miles north to south and 95 miles east to west composing some 5,800 square miles of flat land and rolling hills - about the size of Holland.

Not to be overlooked in Mount Barker is the celebrated Whispering Hill Vineyard, a notable riesling site (its shiraz is highly regarded as well). Owned by the Capel Vale winery located just to the northeast of Margaret River in the Geographe Region (so named because the French explored this part of Australia before the Brits colonized it), it was planted in 1985 by Capel Vale proprietor Dr. Peter Pratten in low-fertility soils of degraded and weathered granite. Its evocative name was inspired by the soothing sound the wind makes when blowing through a stand of rare Casuarina trees near a rocky outcrop on the property.

Capel Vale 2007 Riesling, Whispering Hill Vineyard
Layered, complex aromas of dried apricot, talc, lime leaf and quince paste. Juicy and mouthfilling, with bright flavors of lime citrus, flinty minerality and subtle stone fruit; long, lovely finish.
91 Points
Steve Pitcher

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