Fanny Limehead Clare Valley Riesling 2016

Signs that you’ve fallen for Fanny include: weak knees, citrus hickeys, bursts of euphoria, increased riesling appetite, bouts of song and the desire to simultaneously squeeze a lemon, sniff a lime and tell someone you love them. It’s a serious condition.

One of the effervescent pioneers for our Vinomofo Series, Fanny Limehead (in short) is an enchanting, beguiling, bewitching riesling. A Clare Valley sweetheart and vino temptress, she’ll beckon you into her garden of unearthly delights, turn your head with a cloud of jasmine, then kiss you smack on the lips and squeeze your bum in front of your grandparents. Someone warn Dick Lemonbottom (the ex), because Fanny ‘16 is here. 

What is the Vinomofo Series?

This range is all about celebrating and collaborating with the folk who get their hands dirty. The brightest and most passionate wine lovers out there - the winemakers. These are the people who are on site, vintage in and vintage out, turning grapes into magic. And in working with Australia’s most talented winemakers, we are humbled to help see a wine come to life, from seedling to screwcap and everything in between. We’re talking honest and epic vino, from the best in the business. Which in Fanny’s case, is Penna Lane winemaker and Clare Valley class act, Peter Treloar...

Made by Peter Treloar

We’ve been counting our lucky stars for four vintages now. Back in 2013, we hardly dared dream that Penna Lane’s main man would join us on a vino collab. After all, there’s few  winemakers out there with such riesling panache and genuine connection (we’re talking five generations) to the Clare. And yet look at us now, Mum! Calling Mr. Treloar ‘Pete’ and throwing back Fanny ‘16 like there’s no other rizza in the world. It’s an honour and a privilege and a downright delight to work alongside this wine hero. We could not be more stoked. 

The Process

How’s this for history - the Penna Lane vineyard dates back to 1865. That makes it over 150 years since Peter’s ancestor, Francis Treloar, bought land in Watervale and planted the first vines. And here we are, drinking a riesling that was crafted from the very same red loam and limestone soils. I mean, what a bloody time warp. 

Fanny ‘16 was born into what is widely considered to be one of the most exciting vintages in a decade. With a warmer than average December followed by a dry January, the pristine (predominantly Polish Hill River) fruit was machine harvested in the cool of night from a premium parcel. The grapes were then gently pressed and fermented in tank to make double, triple, quadruple certain that not a skerrick of citrus or lime flavour was lost. And by golly, are we thankful. Because this has made for pure, unadulterated Clare Valley juice. 

The Wine 

She got even better, folks. Perhaps the most evolved and elegant of all her sister vintages, Fanny ‘16 continues to bestow her signature citrus kisses and leave us in a cloud of sweet, sweet jasmine. The intensity of fruit has been amplified yet again, without compromising that which we love most about Miss Limehead - her vibrant riesling acidity and pristine lime calling card. 

She’ll take you to her nirvana, tease you with hints of green apple, caress you with a palate of lychee and end on a long, persistent finish. If you’re smitten (we don’t blame you), take her home to your folks today otherwise keep her to yourself for a few more years and she’ll only get more honeyed with time. 

The Inspiration

While Fanny belongs to all of us, she is arguably the vino baby of our wine buyer and resident rizza fiend John. I want to say he birthed her, but that sounds weird and the visuals are rather unpleasant. Sorry John. What I mean to say, is that through an acquaintance of a wine acquaintance, John and Peter came together (again, weird, sorry) to craft Fanny Limehead. 

The brief? Make a really, really bloody good Clare riesling. Something that John could drink and describe as “swish”. Because that’s high praise in John-speak. The result? A really, really bloody good Clare riesling, of course. And the recipe only keeps getting better with each vintage. 

However, the story of how Fanny Limehead came to adorn the wine label, is not so straightforward. There were two boys in the mofo Adelaide office, boy one was Adsy (our Art Director) and boy two was Andre (one of our co-founders). It was late at night. They’d already drank a bottle of pinot. It was a creative spitball kinda evening. 

They’d settled on the riesling coming to life as a woman (a very beautiful one, at that) but couldn’t land on a character name. They drank more pinot. As the clock struck twelve a blustery wind blew open the office door and in strode a mysterious stranger. He uttered only two words “Mrs Limehead”. The wind fell, the door closed, and Adsy said “fanny” instead of another f-word expletive. And so the Queen was born, with glorious hair and excellent ankles et al.