5 Star Winery - Halliday Wine Companion
"Outstanding" Classification (Riesling) - Langton's Classification of Fine Wine IV
"Once a tiny outpost in a little-known wine region, Crawford River is a foremost producer of Riesling (and other excellent wines)" - James Halliday
"The isolated Crawford River estate, established in 1874 as a sheep and cattle station, still remains in Thomson family hands. The 11.5-hectare vineyard is located at the alluvial edge of a volcanic lava flow. The dry-grown vines, planted in 1975 by John Thomson, are deeply anchored in gravelly, friable, basalt loams over clays and an ancient limestone seabed. Second generation winemaker Belinda Thomson, with her father, continues the philosophy of minimal intervention and movement during vinification. The cold-settled juice is batch-fermented at 12-15°C and left on lees for around six weeks before bottling in September of the year of vintage. With its fresh, intense, lemon-tonic/ pear/ apple/ oyster-shell aromas, superb, lemon-curd richness, persistence and minerality, Crawford River Riesling is an idiomatic expression of the modern Riesling style." - Langton's
