2020 Kusuda Riesling

Hiro Kusuda was born in Tokyo where he worked as a lawyer before a stint in Australia. Along the way his love affair with wine and winemaking grew, and eventually he set off to complete his studies at Geisenheim in Germany before moving to Martinborough in New Zealand to make hand crafted Pinot Noir. Kusuda is known for attention to detail, to the point that each berry is picked individually at harvest by his Japanese friends that fly out each year to assist. Naturally this precision comes at a cost, in particular the miniscule volumes produced, and as such stocks are extremely limited.

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Full bottle 1,296 g. Grown in a leased vineyard block on the original Martinborough Terrace. Very dry January and February with heavy rain at the end of March. Hand-picked with careful selection 4–6 April at 20–22 Brix. Whole-bunch pressed, settled for 72 hours with bentonite. Fermented in tank for 16 days. Bottled 25 August 2020. Production: 3,851 bottles (2,000 cork-stoppered and 1,851 screwcapped) plus 69 magnums. TA 6.8 g/l, pH 2.91, RS 1.9 g/l.
Very lively, floral nose. Cutting acidity and a bit hard on the end. Less obvious fruit than, say, the 2020 Rheingau Riesling trocken from Eva Fricke that I have just been tasting. But it’s certainly pure and precise and I should imagine it will age well. And it’s in stark contrast to the over-perfumed, over-sweetened NZ Rieslings that have predominated. Drink 2022 - 2028.
16++/20 points
Jancis Robinson MW