Winemakers Collection Nelson “Sweet Agnes” Riesling – In Praise of Agnes Seifried

The Winemakers Collection Nelson “Sweet Agnes” Riesling from the Seifried Estate Winery comes from the Edens Road vineyard. The vineyard borders the Wairoa River and is characterised by its stony soil structure. The freely draining soil is hard to farm, but advantageous when it comes to storing the warmth of the sun and allowing the grapes to ripen well.

This iconic, delicious dessert wine takes its name from Hermann Seifried’s wife and winery co-founder Agnes Seifried. It is a very special wine and ages gracefully like its namesake. After the 2020 vintage was not produced due to Corona, this exceptional wine is available again. During Corona, the Seifried family forgoes the harvest. The risk of infection for the numerous harvest workers seemed too high.

The grapes of the 2021 vintage were harvested at the time of highest ripeness. In most cases, the skin of the berries was already somewhat shrivelled, which was due to the natural dehydration. Afterwards, the grapes from the various Riesling parcels were gently pressed to obtain a very concentrated, intensely aromatic juice. The fermentation lasted about three weeks. During this time, the different fermentation plots were regularly checked and tasted. The young wine was then blended and stabilised before being bottled in June 2021. The residual sugar content in this New Zealand sweet wine is 177g/L.

And this is how the Winemakers Collection Nelson “Sweet Agnes” Riesling tastes from the Seifried Estate Winery

The Winemakers Collection Nelson “Sweet Agnes” Riesling from Seifried Estate Winery is lush and intensely concentrated. On the nose, it smells sensually of tangerine peel, crystallised ginger, citrus fruits and Christmas spices. On the palate, this New Zealand dessert wine seduces with an exciting sweetness-acidity interplay, lots of fruit extract and a delicate melt. An exquisite Riesling from New Zealand, with a long, opulent finish and good development potential.