Riesling
75cl * Vegan * 11.5% ABV * Barossa Valley, Australia
Dandelion Vineyards is the venture of talented winemaker Elena Brooks, and her husband Zar. Their project makes wines from the Barossa and Eden Valleys, Fleurieu, the Adelaide Hills and McLaren Vale.
Elena hails from Bulgaria. Her mother worked for a local producer, and so much of Elena’s childhood was spent in a winery. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Bulgaria’s rich winemaking history attracted visiting winemakers from across the globe. As a result, Elena met many international winemakers visiting her mother's workplace. As the only English speaker, she began interpreting barrel room tastings for these visitors at the age of 12. By 15 she was well-versed in the ins and outs of the winemaking process and by 16 she had made her first wine. After formal study and stints making wine worldwide, Elena eventually settled in McLaren Vale with Zar and founded Dandelion Vineyards.
Enchanted Garden is a thriving Eden Valley Vine Garden perched atop rocky hills. Grapes were picked early March and juice from the free run was fermented between 11 and 13 degrees Celsius. The wine has high natural acidity, low pH and although bone dry, an alcohol of only 11.5%.
This 2025 Enchanted Garden of the Eden Valley Riesling was bottled directly with minimal winemaking artifact to capture the essence of the vineyard, a looking glass if you will, and is ready to drink immediately or cellar for decades.
On the nose you will find bath salts and mineral salts, talcum powder, quartz crushed and intense citrus: lemon flesh and lime zest. Honeysuckle, orange blossom; ruby grapefruit and freshly cut mandarin. Aromaticity so striking you can almost taste it. And when you do there flows a soft mineral water texture drawn by a very linear acidity. A bone dry white wine and yet there is an atomic core of intense yet exotic riesling fruit flavour - from steely passionfruit to musk and roses. This wine affords a long rising then gently falling structure. And there is a long, lingering aftertaste that maintains the steel and mineral mantra.
A wine that you can drink immediately or cellar for decades.