2002 was a terrific year for Riesling in South Australia. Both the Eden and Clare Valley’s produced vibrant wine’s realising outstanding, pristine fruit, indelible acidity and wonderful ageworthy structure that (mostly) are standing up to time in bottle with considerable aplomb.

Displaying a bright light green/pale straw colour followed by a fine zesty bouquet of lime, grapefruit pith, crushed slate, green pear, apple skin and minerals. The palate is extraordinarily fresh and vibrant with crisp lime, pear and apple fruit, a driving mineral spine, exemplary acid cut, good carry and a wonderfully invigorating and lengthy apply finish. With at least another decade of development to look forward to, this wine could hold for considerably longer if the screwcap seal and proper cellaring conditions prevail. For the record I rate this wine at 92 points with a higher mark in store if it continues to gain complexity whilst retaining its freshness and vitality. 13.0% A/V.

This wine might just be one of the best young Aussie Riesling’s I’ve tasted in the last year or more. And it just might contain a higher percentage (hopefully, one day, 100%, but I seriously doubt it) of Steingarten fruit than some of its predecessors.

Steingarten goes way back, for me at least. I remember drinking it in the eighties thanks to some of the local wine club dudes and it was sublime. I suppose the fact it, seemingly, went off the boil there for a while, isn’t all that important. But with this vintage, Orlando have produced the real deal, so you’ll get no complaints from me if this standard is reproduced on a regular basis in the future. The 2002 is another vintage of this label worthy of similar praise on what I tasted a year or so, too.

Boasting a starbright, brilliant palest of green/white gold hue’s, this wine’s aromatics are truly stunning revealing a classical bevy of freshly squeezed lime, musk, river pebbles, rosehip, ripe Packham pear, apple blossom; all wrapped (hopefully) in some of the minerality of the rocky soils of this legendary Barossa Ranges vineyard. The palate continues to the beat of the same drum - beautiful entry, expansive palate of pristine, tight citrus fruit combined with an explosive, superbly crafted middle and back palate riddled with vibrant, mouth-puckering, minerally acidity. This wine is very well balanced yet displays such youthfulness and has such incredible potential for improvement, probably for at least a decade, most likely closer to two. Finishes with the resolute persistence of crunchy citrus fruits and zesty, crisp acidity, I predict this wine will be difficult for most people to keep their hands of it before it reaches its final curtain. Drink 2007-2025. 12.5 %A/V and sealed with a Stelvin screwcap. 92 points.

Nineteen-ninety-eight delivered some brilliant Riesling from Eden Valley - this example attests to the actuality. 13.0% A/V. Cork-sealed.

Harbouring a vibrant bright lemon green colour, the bouquet just screams from the glass with intense toasty lime and minerals filling the olfactories. Still fresh and invigorating. The palate boasts a crispness belying its age with intense lime and grapefruit pith providing an abundance of mouthfilling flavour while the slatey/minerally acidity offers up the perfect counterbalance to the juicy fruit. Finishes long and dry with just a suggestion of being phenolic. Otherwise, Exceptional. Drink now-2013+. 94 points. 

Glowing yellow gold. Enticing bouquet of citrus, toast, ripe pineapple, peach, green apples and passionfruit with a distinct suggestion of minerals. Similarly fruited on the palate, not classical by any stretch of the imagination, nonetheless, nicely poised and quite polished. Of medium-weight, beautifully etched and integrated acid regime with plenty of that same ripe fruit running throughout a lengthy sweet’n’sour finish. Excellent, albeit slightly atypical for this label (in this case, a declassified Leonay), maker and many bottles of same opened over the the last several years. 90 points. Drink now-2010.

Supposedly a ‘declassified’ Leonay, this wine continues to evolve slowly and surely with excellent mid- to long-term prospects. 12% A/V. Sealed under cork.

Glowing straw/light gold with a tinge of green. Reveals an ethereal bouquet of blossoms, minerals, toast, lime, a hint of petrol and the merest suggestion of passionfruit. The palate follows along identical lines displaying wonderful purity and definition, crunchy fruit, terrific acid cut, superb balance and a crisp, refreshing finish of some duration. Drink now-2015. Verging on an outstanding rating. 90 points.