2017 The Lost Watch TROPHY Best Of The Show, Adelaide Hills Wine Show - DEC 2017 James Halliday 2019 Wine Companion AUG 2018 95 POINTS A wine with one cardinal quality: it s purity. This comes from the way citrus and apple are fused into a single stream by crystalline acidity, all ending as a single character. This is a deadset stayer. The Wine Front, Campbell Mattinson - OCT 2017 Brilliant clear colour. Like water with a tinge of green. The wine is then all apple, lime and spice, the intensity good, the purity, the freshness and the bloom of aroma. Nice work if you can get it. It goes down a treat. Refreshing but with flavour and finish. Australian Wine Review, Andrew Graham - OCT 2017 93 POINTS Super sharply focused aromatics in the Lost Watch this year. Cool year writ large. Super tight, grapefruity palate is still bound up in ferment esters but packs some impressive, mouthwatering acidity behind it. Laser etched grapefruit acidity, but not hard, the purity top class. Linear, tight, perhaps a little too restrained for now, but such length and purity. Quality.
2016 The Lost Watch Adelaide Hills Wine Show - DEC 2016 TROPHY Best Of The Show HuonHooke.com, Huon Hooke - OCT 2016 Palish colour. The aromas are very young and new, unevolved and nascent, with hints of almond and malt. The palate is bright and clean, tangy and lip-smacking crisp, with fresh but balanced acidity and substantial charm. The finish lingers long.
2015 The Lost Watch James Halliday Australian Wine Companion 2017 - AUG 2016 It s one of many SA cool-region wines with a high natural acidity that will underpin its long-term development potential, 5 years is the barest minimum, but will be enough for the light within to burst into life. WBM, Tyson Stelzer - APR 2016 A compelling juxtaposition between tense lime, lemon and granny smith apple and understated exotic exuberance of guava, this is a finely mineral riesling that revels in cool Adelaide Hills acidity. Adelaide Advertiser, Tony Love - JAN 2016 4.5 STARS Based in McLaren Vale and like many there seeking their whites out of the neighbouring Hills, which with riesling often means a regionally typical cut-apple flavour profile, linking in with classic varietal lemon elements. Bang on here for all that, with quite delicate aromas to start, white florals and apple skins, all joining in unison in a lovely, sweet central spot, softly integrated with a faint cinnamon spice finishing lift. Australian Wine Review, Andrew Graham - NOV 2015 90 POINTS The twist with this Wirra rizza is where its from - the Adelaide Hills is hardly your first port of call. In the best vintages it s also a worthy contender. This 15 is in a funny place though, with the first whispers of hay and straw bottle development creeping in already. Curious. It s otherwise juicy and primary as ever, if just a bit flat and gunshy through the middle. Taut, precocious finish is on the money though and begs the score. Juicy and primary as ever, hit definitely flatter and more forward. Acid is typically precocious though and really lifts the score. Best drinking: 2018-. Would I buy it? A glass would be enough for now.
2014 The Lost Watch James Halliday Australian Wine Companion 2016 - AUG 2015 93 POINTS Apple, citrus, grapefruit and stone fruit flavours. More breadth than is customary for young riesling but it has the intensity to match and the length to finish the job. It looks from all angles like a very good release. Winefront, Gary Walsh - FEB 2015 93 POINTS The Adelaide Hills is one of those regions, much like the Yarra Valley, that has a bit of a go at growing everything. maybe a little more successful in the Adelaide Hills than the Yarra thought, perhaps. It s a nice change of pace from your usual Clare of Eden Valley style; a little softer, more floral and come-hither. Ruby red grapefruit, slight pepper and herbal seasoning, ginger and green apple. Gentle chalkiness, delicacy and refreshment at every turn, with a clean finish of excellent length. You d be hard pressed not to like this. Adelaide Hills Wine Show - DEC 2014 TROPHY Best Of The Show
2013 The Lost Watch James Halliday Australian Wine Companion 2015 - JUL 2014 Light straw-green; a tightly structured wine with citrus zest, crushed lime leaves and minerally acidity with enough drive and finesse to appeal now, but with a guaranteed payback for those with patience to cellar it for 5+ years. The Australian Wine Annual 2015, Jeremy Oliver - JUL 2014 A delicate, tightly focused cool region whose subtle perfume of white flowers, pear, apple and white peach reveals a hint of citrus. It s taut and austere, with a crunchy expression of lively apple, lime and pear-like fruit underpinned by a fine dustiness, finishing with a crisp, lemony acidity. WBM, Tyson Stelzer - FEB 2014 A fragrant, precise lemon blossom bouquet precedes a palate that meshes concentrated granny smith apple, crunchy pear and kaffir lime fruit with a driving acid spine, making for an approachable style. Winefront, Campbell Mattinson - AUG 2013 90 POINTS Difficult not to like this from Wirra Wirra. So much apple and musk and pear; its got frisky deliciousness written all over it. Lime and fennel too. Its alive with scent and mid palate flavour Textural. I like it quite a lot.
2012 The Lost Watch James Halliday Australian Wine Companion 2014 - AUG 2013 Pale quartz-green; has that extra touch of finesse that the Adelaide Hills confers on its rieslings, even if the flavour is not as marked as that of the Clare/Eden Valley, delicacy and balance the order of the day, plus the benison of the vintage. Gourmet Traveller Wine, Huon Hooke - NOV 2012 This is very fresh and still a trifle yeasty with a bright, light-yellow colour and youthful aromas of straw and dried flowers. The palate boasts refinement and subtlety. It s light but fresh and smooth. Beautifully proportioned wine. The Wine Front, Mike Bennie - JUN 2012 Wears its hand picked status like a talisman on the bottle, going as far to say each grape is picked by hand in the label guff the fruit is sourced from the Adelaide Hills. The Advertiser, Tony Love - JUN 2012 4/5 A SUPERFINE Hills riesling with that classic citrus the variety delivers but also a more regional element of crisp Granny Smith apples and a textural juicy acidity that feels like lemon juice, and tastes like it, plus a drop of lavender honey - most delicious and full of life. Australian Wine Review, Andrew Graham - AUG 2012 92+ POINTS A genuinely pure and lively this one, looking fresh but also exactingly ripe. It has a rather floral and pretty nose of some purity, the characters still a little reticent though still showing grapefruit and white flower florals. Palate too is taut and grapefruity with very sprightly acidity and a general feeling of cleanliness.
2011 The Lost Watch James Halliday Australian Wine Companion 2013 - DEC 2011 The winemaking team at Wirra Wirra are polished practitioners, seemingly effortlessly producing polished wines such as this; the varietal fruit, line, length and above all balance all coalesce on the lime and honey back-palate, the acidity of the vintage not the least aggressive. Will develop beautifully in bottle. Sydney Morning Herald, Huon Hooke - NOV 2011 A remarkable success from a difficult vintage. This pale wine has a faintly peppery, shy, undeveloped aroma and is building a fin fragrance. Its delicate, tight and seamless in the mouth: a pared-back style that has excellent line and length. And its great value.
2010 The Lost Watch James Halliday Australian Wine Companion 2012 - AUG 2010 Bright pale quartz-green; takes its time in revealing itself, but when it does so, does it in spades on the back-palate and riveting aftertaste of intense lime and lemon juice.