Wildflower St Florence 2023: Riesling is a golden barrel aged ale wholly fermented by a diversity of yeasts and bacteria collected from native fowers in NSW refermented with white wine grapes. It is named for Topher and Bernadette’s first daughter. Saint Florence was a 7th century abbess from Cartagena, Spain.
Topher's production notes
In 2023, St Florence: Riesling was made by blending barrel aged golden mixed culture fermentation ale with 456kg of handpicked, whole bunch Riesling courtesy of Ravensworth. After a three month maceration and refermentation of fruit and beer, it was bottled and allowed to naturally carbonate and mature before release.
A momentary departure from our usual Semillon for this cuvee as the Hunter Valley wine region suffered hail damage in early 2023 which highly affected crop yields for both Tyrrell's and M&J Becker wines, leaving no opportunity for a Semillon beer in 2023. Canberra region riesling, however, was a great substitute highlighting the fruitier side of Gold.
The base beer is brewed entirely with certified organic cereals from Chris and Sam Greenwood's farm in Coleambally NSW. Organic raw red wheat with organic Schooner barley malted to a pale roast by Voyager Craft Malt. It is made with filtered Sydney water and Motueka (NZ) hops. Finally, it was fermented with our house culture of microflora wholly foraged from native flowers in NSW. It was bottled on 11 July 2023 and naturally conditioned through refermentation for 33 weeks. At bottling it was 6.2% ABV and 10.0°P.
Tasting notes
A super clean and light ale, full of brightness and ripe fruit notes from the Riesling as compared to Semillon which marries well with our Gold base accentuating it's stone fruit character above the citrus driven aspect as in Semillon. Very well balanced, exactly what we shoot for... it tastes effortless, however a lot of work went into making it like that. A drink for all tastes and ages.
Like all our beers, St Florence 2023: Riesling is best enjoyed when decanted off a settled natural yeast sediment at cellar temperatures (10-12°C).
Enjoy.
