2018 ‘Sticky Tea’ Riesling

95 Points “Sticky Tea. What a name! The colour reminds me of the water at Lake Cootharaba (just north of Noosa) which is stained by tea tree leaves. But this is none of that. Riesling basket pressings that have been fermented then pressed off. It’s excellent and quite delicious!  No doubt the name has come from the end result too. This smells and tastes of cold tea. But there’s a well-handled and well-managed sweetness here. Balance is the key and this nails it. I love the fine rub of, dare I say, tea-like tannins too. Dried apricots and peaches early, there are scents of dried yellow flowers as well. This nails that post-meal cleanser. Pass the cheeseboard, please.” Qwine, Feb 2022

94 Points “Vibrant orange wine colour. I like the name ‘Sticky Tea Riesling’. ‘Wet’ grape skins are refermented to make this wine. Has exotic tea-like characters (!) in spades here. Kind of orange wine, kind of light dessert wine, very interesting and delicious, refreshing, textural and complex. Dried mixed peel scents, some mandarin juice, a bit of chamomile and bergamot too. Sweetness, but quickly dry and chalky. Ripper drink.” The Winefront, Mike Bennie

93 Points “There’s visible viscosity swirling in the glass. Unique: Orange & mandarin peel and dried pieces, ginger spice, white tea and earthy/floral chamomile. Just medium bodied juxtaposition between dessert and aperitif style, both refreshing and opulent. Impressive acid drive tempered with grippy, skin tannins through a clean finish.” Vinonotebook, Regan Drew

93 Points “Yeast is added to pressings, resulting in an intense elixir of ample skin maceration. A happy accident that resulted in a style all its own. Aromas of rooibos tea, Darjeeling crème caramel, cooked ginger, lemon verbena and citrus marmalade skitter along juicy acid rails and some phenolic riffing, all pushing long while feeling almost ethereal. Delicious.” Wine Companion 2022, Ned Goodwin MW

92 Points “Bottled in 375ml for your pleasure. The idea of ‘sticky wines’ seems distant to me these days, and something I see less, but lo and behold, one. And perhaps many more out there under my radar of course. There certainly is a tea-like quality in scents and flavours, ginger-lemon with some jasmine perhaps? Maybe a bit of savoury, smoky bergamot too. Anyway, this ends up a delightful thing to drink, lighter over stickier but with plenty of mango, honey, creme brulee going on, all quite delicate and fresh feeling though. Well played.” Mike Bennie, The Winefront, May 2023

“The current vintage of the Patina “Sticky Tea” Riesling is the 2018 edition and shows hints of honey, lime and sweet cumquat. There are even some subtle hints of lemon curd on the edges. As its moniker suggests, there’s plenty of Liptons characters through the middle and enough gentle acidity on the finish to give it credibility. I like the fact that it’s only 9.9% alcohol, has a zippy finish and doesn’t leave your mouth feeling hot. It’s not the intense highly viscous type that overwhelms the taste buds and it doesn’t pretend to be an expensive Bordeaux Sauterne, but I reckon it isn’t bad for less than $25 a bottle!” Travis Schultz

“Gerald Naef, winemaker at Patina Wines constantly strives to tweak and push boundaries with his winemaking. Such is the case with this quirky Patina 2018 ‘Sticky Tea’ Riesling, a fortuitous result of experimenting with fermenting remaining, delicately basket-pressed Riesling skins. It is a sweetly refreshing, lowish alcohol [9.9% Alc] drop best enjoyed slightly chilled or on ice as an aperitif. Top notes of mandarine, lavender and Earl Grey tea glide over the palate without the cloyishness sometimes expected of that style. Fragrant and smoothly succulent, our bottle was a lovely complement to our fruit and charcuterie platter.” The Grape Hunter, Gilbert Labour, Dec 2021

“This is a delicious and intriguing wine from Orange which Patina’s Gerald Naef created by happy accident. Miffed at the amount of juice left in his Riesling pressings that would otherwise have been thrown out, he added some yeast to see how it would ferment. The result is a delectable, light sticky, redolent of lemon and stonefruits with a gentle sweet palate of apple sorbet and green tea. It could be enjoyed as an aperitif with a starter like chicken liver parfait, a dessert wine with fruit sorbet, or for a match made in heaven, blue cheese and slices of pear.” Christine Salins, PS News

“Two winemakers to whom necessity is the mother of invention are in focus today. First up is American broad-acre crop farmer-turned Australian Orange area vigneron Gerald Naef,maker of this quirky in name and nature dessert wine. It came about because, in basket-pressing grapes for his riesling table whites, Gerald found the residue contained 25% of usable juice, to which he added yeast to ferment into “a very Patina 2018 Sticky Tea Riesling $25 (375ml bottle) 4.5 stars (out of 6) Basket-press bonus interesting sticky-aperitif-style, iced tea” drop. I found it amber-hued, treacle-scented and luscious raisiny front-palate-flavoured. The middle has lychee, honeycomb and teacake characters and a finish of mixed peel. At patinawines.com.au and the Summerhill Lane, Orange, winery. Drink with Christmas pudding and cellar seven years.” Newcastle Herald, John Lewis, Dec 2021

“The Patina “Sticky Tea” Riesling is the result of a bit of an experiment by Orange based winemaker, Gerald Naef. Frustrated with wasting juice because his basket press would only extract about 75% from the fruit, in the 2009 vintage he added yeast to the pressed skins of his riesling and gave it a few days to ferment and was pleasantly surprised with the result. Waste not, want not, as they say! The current vintage of the Patina “Sticky Tea” Riesling is the 2018 edition and shows hints of honey, lime and sweet cumquat. There are even some subtle hints of lemon curd on the edges. As its moniker suggests, there’s plenty of Liptons characters through the middle and enough gentle acidity on the finish to give it credibility. I like the fact that it’s only 9.9% alcohol, has a zippy finish and doesn’t leave your mouth feeling hot. It’s not the intense highly viscous type that overwhelms the taste buds and it doesn’t pretend to be an expensive Bordeaux Sauterne, but I reckon it isn’t bad for less than $25 a bottle! Whether it’s just an aperitif or served with crème caramel or Christmas cake, stickies can fuel the conversation and turbo-charge the pudding. You never know; a couple of glasses on Christmas Day might even make Grandma reveal the secret recipe for her yuletide rum balls!” Cairns Post, Travis Schulz

“I’m not sure what you would call this but, what I am about to tell you is bizarre, spooky even. Firstly, a confession, ‘sticky’ wines are not my ‘thing’. So, when I received this, I have to admit to not being sure how to approach it. Conversely, I have a mate who is a big fan. I contacted him and told him I had a wine for him to try and suggested he buy a cheese to have with it. Long story short, when I arrived at his home, he had purchased a terrific blue cheese, not knowing what the wine was, however a perfect accompaniment to this wine. I’m not sure what you would call this ‘occurrence’ but clearly the stars aligned for the perfect wine/cheese combination. This was nothing like I expected. It’s like a sticky tea and quite light, refreshing and delicious as opposed to similar wines that tend to be cloyingly sweet and a bit heavy on the palate (don’t get me wrong, wines like this have their place). There’s an abundance of flavours making it quite complex, not confusing, meaning it has you excited about what they are. It has lovely texture and balance too. There are delicate citrus characters that are in tune, not dominating, the sweet side to this wine and it all finishes lovely and clean. A very pleasant surprise and it has changed my view about this style of wine.” Words from a Wineglass, Tony Peters, Feb 2022

91 Points “A lovely dark bronze/orange colour (appropriate for a wine from Orange?). And then orange rind notes on the nose (or is this all power of suggestion?). Glacéd fruits, that hint of tea/bergamot and some attractive lighter honey notes. This lighter style of a sweeter Riesling is nicely focussed and delicious. A non-cloying finish, good length and a wine with five to eight years ahead, though I’m not sure there is that much to be gained by holding on to it. I’d be enjoying it today.” Winepilot, Ken Gargett