Auburn Wine Reviews
2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009
2010 Vintage
Bob Campbell - MW
2010 Auburn Alexandra Riesling (5 stars)
"Attractive wine in a medium style with residual sweetness neatly balanced by deliciously juicy and accessible acidity. Flavours suggest a mix of lime and mineral with perhaps a delicate floral influence." 93/100
2010 Auburn Lowburn Riesling
"Luscious, focused Riesling in a moderately sweet style with citrus/lime/lemon and chalky mineral flavours. Perfectly balanced by fine acidity with no sense of cloying. A fine example of sweeter Riesling made without any botrytis influence."
2010 Auburn Aura Riesling
"Intense and luscious Riesling from the Bendigo area of Central Otago. A generous amount of sweetness is balanced by lovely pure acidity to give a moderately sweet and lengthy finish. Wonderfully pure and vibrant wine that is delicious now but should age well."
Michael Cooper - The Listener
2010 Auburn Aura Riesling (5 stars)
"Late-harvested at Bendigo, this is a finely scented, Mosel-like beauty with low alcohol (8.5%) and fresh, vibrant flavours, citrusy, limey, minerally and rich. Perfectly poised, with a hint of honey, it is already a very “complete” wine, for drinking from now on."
Michael Cooper - Winestate
2010 Auburn Aura Riesling (5 stars)
"Late-picked in June at Bendigo, in the Cromwell Basin, this Mosel-like wine is rare (277 bottles), with low alcohol (8.5%) and abundant sweetness. Finely scented, with a hint of sherbet, it’s already lovely, with vibrant, citrusy, appley, slightly honeyed flavours, poised, minerally and rich. A ‘complete’ wine."
2010 Auburn Lowburn Riesling
"Sweet but not super-sweet style from Central Otago, with lovely harmony. Scented and rich, with ripe, citrusy, slightly spicy flavours, a hint of passionfruit and strong drink-young appeal."
2010 Auburn Alexandra Riesling
"Medium-sweet style from Central Otago with lemon, lime and passionfruit flavours, fresh and penetrating. Fairly low alcohol (10.5%), with sweetness giving early appeal and a long, crisp finish. Best drinking 2012+."
Sam Kim - Wine Orbit
2010 Auburn Alexandra Riesling (92 pts, 4.5 stars)
"A sensually pleasing Riesling with lovely ripe aromas of apple, mandarin and stonefruits. The palate is beautifully flowing with appealing sweetness (45 g/l) which is perfectly balanced by the bright acidity leading to a lingering crisp finish. A well proportioned and immensely delicious wine. At its best: now to 2016. $28.00 10.5% Screw cap. 740 bottles produced. Jan 2011"
2010 Auburn Lowburn Riesling (94 pts, 5 stars)
"It's delicate and refined yet concentrated and persistent, displaying golden apple, citrus, floral and a touch of flinty notes on the nose. The palate is juicy and bright with lovely sweetness (64 g/l) and beautifully integrated acidity. The wine feels light even though it is firmly structured and intensely flavoured. At its best: now to 2018. $28.00 10.5% Screw cap. 746 bottles produced. Jan 2011"
2010 Auburn Aura Riesling (95 pts, 5 stars)
"From the Bendigo district, this is a glorious Riesling showing immediate appeal with an excellent potential to evolve gradually. The nose is beautifully perfumed displaying golden apple, tropical fruit and citrus characters. The palate is lusciously sweet (104 g/l), yet refreshing, with lovely flow to a fabulously delicious finish. At its best: now to 2020. $28.00 8.5% Screw cap. 277 bottles produced. Jan 2011."
Gary Walsh - Wine Front
2010 Auburn Lowburn Riesling (94 pts)
"NZ seems like a good place to make off-dry Riesling. This one has 45g/L residual sugar with a total production of 740 bottles. It’s very good. Mineral and stony with some light lavender perfume (or a Provencal herbs sort of thing) along with stone fruit and ripe citrus. It’s flinty and focussed – the acidity and sweetness rubbing up close and causing tension but playing nicely all the same – closing (seemingly) dry and clean. Etched and defined. Yum. Splendid. Drink 2011-2016+."
Tyson Stelzer - Wine100
2010 Auburn Aura Riesling (95 pts)
"A pinotless Otago brand! Who would have thought?! Sweet riesling is the white star of Otago and newcomer Auburn makes nothing else! Aura is exotically complex, exactingly fine-boned and unashamedly medium-sweet."
Raymond Chan
Auburn – Central Otago Riesling Passion
"True wine lovers appreciate the nobility of Riesling. Auburn is all about Riesling from Central Otago, the variety well-recognised as having the same potential to excite as Pinot Noir has done in the region. Three Riesling fanatics, Max Marriott – ex Christchurch wine personality with David Paterson and Andrew Burge, are dedicated to making exceptionally fine, individual, site-reflective, limited production wines. The vineyards are in Alexandra, Bannockburn, Bendigo and Lowburn. The first vintage was made at the now defunct Packspur winery, the 2010s at the Central Otago Wine Co., with Rockburn being the permanent base from 2011. This is a label to watch. If you like the wines, be quick, as the output is minuscule."
2010 Auburn Alexandra Riesling (4.stars)
"Bright, very pale straw-yellow colour with faint green hues. This has a very fresh, firm and intense nose of very fine lime fruit with floral nuances, laced with minerals and of touch of reduction detracting on opening, but clears quickly. Medium–dryish to taste, this is a wine with lovely delicacy of lime and mineral flavours, enriched with notes of honey. The acidity is very-well judged, the wine distinctly fresh, enlivening the fine textures. Fruit from 10 y.o.vines in the Earnscleugh area of Alexandra, cool-fermented to 10.5% alc. and 45 g/L rs. This will be a fine aperitif and will match Vietnamese and Japanese cuisine over the next 5-6+ years. 60 dozen made. 17.5+/20 Mar 2011"
2010 Auburn Lowburn Riesling (5 stars)
"Made from fruit from 17 y.o. vines from a tiny site at Lowburn, clean fruit with less than 5% botrytis influence, cool-fermented to 10.5% alc., and 64 g/L rs, this has a brilliant straw-yellow colour with light lemon hues and a very fine, delicate bouquet of floral perfumes, acacia blossom and the most subtle and beautiful nuances of talc botrytis. Medium-sweet on palate, this has a beautiful, delicately soft texture with gentle, subtle, honey and lime flavours, lifted with perfumed blossom notes. Good acidity provides tension and the sweetness adds richness to the finish. This is a very attractive aperitif wine that will also match light-to-moderately spicy Asian dishes over the next 4-6 years. 60 dozen made. 18.5-/20 Mar 2011."
Huon Hooke - smh.com.au, 28.06.2011
2010 Auburn Aura Riesling (95/100)
"This winery has a range of rieslings at various sweetnes levels. This is quite sweet, rich and beautifully textured. Hints of apricot and honeysuckle suggest botrytis and the malt, vanilla and honey palate flavours are soft as a pillow, with no acid hardness. Now to 2018. 8.5 per cent alcohol. Food: Fruit salad and cream."
Ben Edwards - Australian Wine Companion
2010 Auburn Aura Riesling (94/100)
"This wine comes from Bendigo fruit in Central Otago, and the bouquet is stunning: apple, pear and poached quince with a clove and orange rind accent; the wine is sweet at 104g/l, but the precision of the acidity provides a very long, fresh and even finish; poised and perfumed."
Quick Quotes
2010 Vintage Reviews
Bob Campbell - MW
"...residual sweetness neatly balanced..."
"...A fine example of sweeter Riesling made without any botrytis influence..."
"...delicious now but should age well..."
Michael Cooper - The Listener
"...A well proportioned and immensely delicious wine..."
Michael Cooper - Winestate
"...A ‘complete’ wine..."
"...long, crisp finish..."
Sam Kim - Wine Orbit
"...Perfectly poised, with a hint of honey..."
"...delicate and refined yet concentrated and persistent..."
"...glorious Riesling showing immediate appeal..."
Gary Walsh - Wine Front
"...Etched and defined. Yum. Splendid..."
Tyson Stelzer - Wine100
"...exotically complex, exactingly fine-boned and unashamedly medium-sweet..."
Raymond Chan
"...beautiful, delicately soft texture with gentle, subtle, honey and lime flavours, lifted with perfumed blossom notes..."
Huon Hooke - Sydney Morning Herald
"...the malt, vanilla and honey palate flavours are soft as a pillow..."
Ben Edwards - AUS Wine Companion
"...the bouquet is stunning: apple, pear and poached quince with a clove and orange rind accent..."