2007 Josef Chromy Botrytis Riesling $N/A

03/01/2026

Why do some people still cellar wines when there's an abundance of styles, grape varieties and price points already available for purchase in an over-saturated worldwide market? What's the point?

Back in the day, this release from the Tamar Valley won gold medals at the International Sweet Wine Challenge and the Royal Melbourne Wine Show, not to mention the Trophy for Best Wine of Competition at the 2009 Sydney International Wine Competition – the first and only sweet wine ever to win the coveted Sydney award.

Now almost 20 years in age, the wine is worthy of inclusion in a very rare and select group of botrytis-affected late-picked Rieslings produced in Tasmania that are truly world-class. IMHO. The others include Pipers Brook Vineyard Cuvée Clark (1993, 2000, 2001) and Moorilla Estate Botrytis Cinerea (1982, 1985).

Age has not just treated the wine kindly. It has amplified its world-class quality. The wine has a rich polished gold hue in the glass, telegraphing its likely age and maturity. But the aromatics are clear, focussed and still driven by that dazzlingly intense Riesling fruit – chiefly lime/citrus with overtones of lemongrass. The interplay between bottle age and botrytis characters introduces some attractive cumquat aromas that also appear on the palate.

Drinking the wine is a sheer delight. It's rich and intense. Honied. Almost opulent but in no way broad and blowsy. Some subtle Germanic secondary characters hinting of petroleum/diesel remind you this is classic, cool climate Riesling in the glass. The whole package is defined and refined by its lingering, almost limey natural acidity. Simply superb.

The Smiths have several more bottles in the cellar. Praise be that all these wines by Jeremy Dineen during his long innings at Josef Chromy were sealed with screw caps. There's no need to cellar further. No need to drink up in the foreseeable future, either. It's almost as if the wine defies the normal bounds of time and space.

Praise be to the cellar gods.

Source: Private cellar, the wine having been purchased at a retailer some time in early 2008.