NEWSLETTERS | Classic Clippings

Pruning 1992

Contents :

• Rhine Riesling 1985-1992
• Henry Pawelski

RHINE RIESLING 1985-1992

We recently lined up all of our rhine rieslings; here's what we found. But first a comment on cellaring potential. All of these wines show no hint of tiring; they are getting better all the time. Even the oldest will comfortably see another 5 years.

1985: limes and honey dominate the nose; just a touch of sweetness on the palate; rich and generous in flavour; good length and still very fresh and lively.

1986: cedarwood is the dominant aroma here. Smooth and mellow with rich flavours on the palate, although showing less acid than some of the other vintages.

1987: light in colour, and slightly subdued on the nose, yet still fresh and lots of flavour. This wine has always had a slight broadness on the palate, yet that broadness seems to be softening with age.

1988: cedarwood dominates the nose suggesting some development, yet the flavours on the palate are still youthful. Long and complex flavours.

1989: A rich and complex wine with some development characters. Good length on the palate.

1990: All our rhine rieslings seem to dip into a hole at about three years, and then emerge revigorated, about a year or two later, showing complex development characters. This one seems to be slipping into that hole, being fairly restrained on the nose, although there is still lots of flavour on the palate.

1991: The currently available release, which is fresh and lively, and with good depth and length of flavour. Still dominated by citric and tropical fruit.

1992: Still in the tank at the time of writing, and showing all the usual features of a young rhine riesling. Limes, tropical fruit and steely, yet with this wine there is hint of aniseed spiciness; it will be interesting to see it in the bottle.

And my favourite of all these wines? The touch of sweetness of the 85 win put it well with a sweeter seafood such as crayfish or scallops. The drier 86 is right for whiting, and the 91 is so full of flavour that it will go with anything. But I'd also put in a special plug for the 89 because it is showing tremendous potential for further improvement in the bottle.

HENRY PAWELSKI

Back in 1983, 1 interviewed Henry Pawelski, who was born at Polish Hill River in 1898. Much of what Henry had to say only confirmed much of what we already know about the Polish pioneers. I turned up the transcript of that interview during a recent clean-up.

Henry recalled many of the years that he served at the altar at Sevenhill; 'They used to have Mass in the little (Polish Hill River) church, and I used to drive the priest from Sevenhill College. The priest that I am talking about was Father Handel. He never spoke to me all the way, which seemed rather a queer thing; it was a horse and trap in those times, and as soon as we got into the buggy he pulled out his rosary beads and he'd say rosary all the way over there, and as soon as he'd finished one lot he'd start over again; he never spoke to you, and coming bark, as soon as he came out from the church it was the same rosary over again."

One of Henry's duties as part of altar service at Sevenhill was to help prepare the bodies of deceased priests for interment in the crypt beneath the church. Understandably he was a little apprehensive on the first occasion, but was reassured by the priest that "you have nothing to fear from the dead; it's the live one's that you have to watch out for".