Description
“Diletti has made Castle Rock one of the superstars of WA.” James Halliday
37 year old Rob Diletti has been with Castle Rock since it’s inception back in 1981 .. Infact he helped his father plant the vines as a 6 year old! Castle Rock Estate is remote .. on the northeast face of the Porongurup mountain range 40 km north east of Albany and 30 km southeast of Mt. Barker. Rob is a senior wine show judge at the leading wineshows (Canberra, Sydney and Perth) and is contract winemaker for 9 other wineries (which also feature prominently in Halliday’s Wine Companion!). The winery combines state of the art machinery and age old proven techniques. Built on a natural slope, the winery makes use of gravity to feed the grapes into the crusher below, doing away with pumps – ensuring delicacy and fruit flavours are maintained .. especially important for riesling. Having made wine in the Great Southern for 15 years he still finds things to get excited about “.. I love the fact you can get such intense fruit here, so the wine is really approachable when young, but still has natural acidity to help it age.”
“(Rob’s) handling of pinot noir is arguably his greater achievement .. yields no ground to the best of Tasmania and Victoria.” James Halliday
Mature pinot vineyard (nearly 30 years old), diverse pinot clonal selection and a favourable growing season in 2013 has delivered another fine pinot with depth of fruit, tension, balanced by silky ripe tannins, nicely integrated French oak ( 35% new oak). Layers of blue fruits, dark cherries, strawberry and spice leaps from the glass, complimented by spice, liquorice and earthiness. That unmistakably Castle Rock tight acid structure & long, lingering finish that tells you this has a cellar life ahead. Recommend some air on first opening. Enjoy now with duck or watch it develop further complexity for 8-10 years.
This is as good if not better than their award winning 2012. Can’t go wrong do not hesitate here..
