Framingham Classic Riesling

WINEMAKING

A significant amount of work is done in the Estate vineyards that produce grapes for all of Framingham’s Rieslings. Extensive crop thinning and a degree of leaf plucking are practised when necessary, giving low yields of grapes that have had managed exposure to sunlight. Fruit for Classic Riesling is harvested largely by machine though some components, up to 25% of the blend, are hand-picked. Phenolic structure from the short term skin contact that occurs during machine harvesting serves to make the wine more approachable early in its life. After de-stemming, the must, with many berries still in-tact, is loaded through the door of the press to reduce maceration. The juice is extracted at low pressures over a 4-hour period. These juices were clarified by cold settling for 2-3 days before racking to ferment. Ferments were conducted in stainless steel tanks with temperature control and selected batches were stopped with some residual sugar remaining. Once fermentation was complete, the wines were left on ferment lees for 2-3 months, with a further 7 months on light lees, to add texture. A small component was aged in neutral wood vessels. After blending, the wine was gently clarified and bottled under screwcap to preserve freshness, flavour and integrity.