Sons of Eden Freya Riesling 2015

Sons of Eden is a partnership between Simon Cowham (one of Australia's most accomplished vignerons) and Corey Ryan (one of Australia's most accomplished winemakers). They make a formidable team and their exceptional skill and experience is expressed in the Sons of Eden Wines. Named in "Ten of the Best" by James Halliday in his 2010 Wine Companion.

"A floral blossom bouquet; intensely focused and equally long on the palate and aftertaste; lime zest and juice has the electrifying acidity marking the quality of the wine now and into the future."  James Halliday

Simon nurtures the vines that are used in some of the Eden/Barossa valley iconic wines. Indeed, 98% of the crop is sought after by the likes of Henschke, Yalumba and Torbreck. Only 2% of the crop (mostly old vineyards) is selected for Corey to craft into exquisite wines of considerable flavour, complexity and length. It is hard to imagine a better pedigree behind any wine label.

"The estate-grown wines are of outstanding quality” - James Halliday

"Aromatically lifted floral notes of jasmine flower are followed by fresh lime and lemon blossom intensity. On the palate, the citrus characters of lemon and lime create a core of intense flavour supported by an enduring mineral line. Further notes of freshly cut green apple indicate a pure expression of Riesling, and one that showcases the flavours typical to Eden Valley.

Vintage 2015 was a near-perfect ripening season punctuated with weeks of warm dry days and typically cold nights lead to slow but steady favour development and perfect levels of natural acidity at harvest."  Sons of Eden

Expert reviews

"Hand-picked, whole bunch-pressed, cool-fermented. Still crystal white; a floral blossom bouquet; intensely focused and equally long on the palate and aftertaste; lime zest and juice has the electrifying acidity marking the quality of the wine now and into the future. Drink by: 2035."  James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion - 95 points

"From the 'Mystical Wine' series from the Sons of Eden. Woooooooo. Big Corey Ryan reckons it's one of the best they've made. Beautiful pure and pretty thing this is, all white flowers and bath product perfume, sweet citrus and a suggestion of pie apple. Delivers juicy fruit flavour with a superb clean core of acidity, the lightest of fine chalky texture and a very long finish tweaked with ruby red grapefruit freshness. Great to drink now, but no hurry of course. Drink: 2016 - 2025+."  Gary Walsh, The Wine Front - 95 points

About the winery

When winemaker Corey Ryan and multi-skilled viticulturist Simon Cowham established Sons of Eden in 2000, they already had years of experience in South Australia's Barossa and Eden Valleys.

Ryan has racked up more than 25 Barossa vintages and worked in New Zealand with Villa Maria Estates; he was awarded 2007 New Zealand Winestate Winemaker of the Year. Back home, he was a 2016 finalist in Gourmet Traveller Wine's Australian Winemaker of the Year. But it was his time as a winemaker at Henschke that lit his fire for the Eden Valley.

Cowham's early days included selling OddBins wines in its glory days, returning from England to work for the Winemakers' Federation of Australia. He switched to grape growing by qualifying as a viticulturist and joining Yalumba as manager of its Heggies and Pewsey Vale vineyards in the mid-'90s. In 2013, Barons of Barossa anointed him Barossa Winemaker of the Year. He, too, has 25-plus Barossa vintages under his belt.

More than 25 vineyard sites across the Barossa and Eden Valleys supply fruit to Sons of Eden: 10 are directly managed and operated by the label, the rest are supplied by handshake agreements with their loyal generational growers. The success of the arrangement is demonstrated by three Most Successful Exhibitor awards from the Barossa Wine Show, two Winewise Small Vigneron Awards and an unbroken annual stream of five-red-star ratings from 2012 to now.