Holm Oak Riesling 2022

James Halliday Top 100 Wines of 2022

Holm Oak is located just north of Launceston, in Tasmania's Tamar Valley. Holm Oak is a labour of love for winemaker Bec Duffy and her viticulturist husband Tim Duffy, Since 2007 they have followed their dream of crafting delicious expressions of cool-climate Tasmanian wines. Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Riesling are outstanding.

"Juicy, bright and vivacious style. Easy drinking, lively and fresh in its nature. Lemon-lime Calippo kind of feeling here. It's easy to like this and there's a nice little bite of powdery, talc-like minerally stuff going on. Good drinking vibes!"  Mike Bennie

"The 2022 Riesling is a fine and delicate wine with lovely aromatics and a minerally/slatey palate. The nose displays aromas of lime leaf and jasmine with some spiced apple characters, whilst the palate shows mineral characteristics with fantastic fruit purity and light, flinty acidity. 

Our vineyard is planted to 3 (unknown) clones of Riesling. One more mineral and citrus, one more floral and aromatic, and the other a bit between the two. This results in a beautiful f linty style of Riesling with lifted floral aromatics and a strong citrus backbone. To achieve this, we harvested the fruit at around 11.5 Baume, pressed to tank, racked and then cool fermented the juice with inoculated yeast. The wine was then lightly fined and filtered and bottled as soon as possible to maintain maximum freshness and aromatics."  Holm Oak

Expert reviews

"A flawless riesling at every point along the way, the bouquet highly floral with white flower and powdery apple blossom to start the conversation, before the sheer power of the mouth-watering lime juice and Meyer lemon take control. The length is prodigious, with the flavours lingering in the mouth for a seeming eternity. Drink by 2042."  James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion - 97 points and Top 100 Wines of 2022 and Special Value Wine  ★ 

"Juicy, bright and vivacious style. Easy drinking, lively and fresh in its nature. Lemon-lime Calippo kind of feeling here. It's easy to like this and there's a nice little bite of powdery, talc-like minerally stuff going on. Good drinking vibes! Drink: 2022-2025+."  Mike Bennie, The Wine Front - 92 points

Awards

James Halliday Top 100 Wines of 2022
Special Value Wine – Halliday Wine Companion  ★ 

About the winery

Holm Oak is located just north of Launceston, in Tasmania's Tamar Valley. Holm Oak is a labour of love for winemaker Bec Duffy and her husband Tim Duffy, viticulturalist. Since 2007 they have followed their dream of crafting delicious expressions of cool-climate Tasmanian wines.

Bec Duffy has over 20 years winemaking experience in Australia and the US, while Tim Duffy, a third-generation grape grower and an agronomist with extensive viticultural experience, manages the vineyard, Their complementary skills drive their vision to produce delicious wines that reflect their home, Tasmania's pristine Tamar Valley, and their own personalities – honest, down to earth, genuine and authentic. 

Grape vines were planted in the rich and fertile land in 1983, making Holm Oak one of the older vineyards in Tasmania. Using the original Pinot Noir and Cabernet plantings, they now also cultivate Arneis, Chardonnay, Merlot, Pinot Gris, Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc. In total, Holm Oak has 12 hectares under vine.

Holm Oak is a full family affair overseen by general manager Pinot 'd' Pig. Like any good manager, Pinot the Pig wanders around keeping a close eye on the daily operations in the vineyards and winery. Pinot was supposed to be a miniature pig, however has grown to be a full-size team member, with a larger than life personality, and a keen eye (and nose) for detail. Every good manager however, has a weakness – if fed a couple of fresh apples, the worries of General Management fade away and Pinot is inclined to sleep on the job!

"Holm Oak in Tasmania's Tamar Valley gained its name from a planting of oak trees in the 1930s, intended to provide oak for tennis racquets. It came to nothing, and 50 years later 2ha of cabernet sauvignon and 0.4ha of pinot noir were planted.

In 2004 Ian and Robyn Wilson bought the property with a succession plan in place, their daughter Rebecca (Bec) already an experienced winemaker having worked on the mainland and in California. She arrived at Holm Oak in 2006, and the onsite winery was completed just in time for the 2007 vintage.

In the same year Bec's partner, agronomist Tim Duffy, arrived and they set about expanding the vineyard from 6a to 15ha; in pride of place is 7ha of pinot noir, with MV6 clone leading the census, plus D5V12, 114, 115, 777, D4V2 and 521. In 1991, 1ha of riesling had been planted; the balance now includes pinot gris (2ha), chardonnay (1.5ha) and arneis (0.3ha), with smaller plantings making up the remainder.

Prior to the completion of the winery, the wines had been competently contract-made. It's a very different story today, with shoot thinning, leaf plucking (on the western side) and removal of shoulder bunches of pinot noir (if needed). The partnership between winemaker and viticulturist has had multiple synergies, as success has followed success. Then there's the Southern Ocean, a vast air conditioner buffering the heat spikes that are part of summer in the southeastern corner of the mainland.

Sparkling wine used 37% of the total crush, which left pinot noir with 28%, sauvignon blanc, chardonnay and pinot gris in a three-way share of 8% each, riesling the remainder. One simple summary is sparkling, red and white wine, each with a third share. And Tamar Valley is the place to be, with almost 40% of the 2022 crush." James Halliday