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.

9.6% A/V

AP Nr 2 576 510 10 77

Incredible deep bright burnished yellow gold colour. Lavish, intimidating but still amazingly fresh nose of super concentrated, coconut-coated and honey-dipped yellow peaches, apricots and nectarines with undertones of ripe naval oranges, concentrated lime juice and poached green pears. Wow! The more this unctuous bouquet opens out, the more it delivers. Ripe tropical fruits lurk as an embellishing top note and subliminal hints of pink grapefruit pith and lemon curd add phenomenal counterbalance. There’s a spicy botrytis aspect which heightens the sense of greatness and an eerie slaty minerality I associate with this vineyard. In the mouth the wine is initially as lush, sweet and almost as syruppy as I can manage and then, almost magically, transforms into something perfectly manageable and ultimately drinkable as the citrussy acidity cuts in to provide a proper sense of delineation, focus and balance. The opulent flavours are an instant replay of those found in the bouquet. The finish is naturally full, rich without the slightest suggestion of cloying and of tremendous length. I’m loathe to hazard a guess as to how long this will last in a good cellar but it smells and tastes of considerable longevity. I rate it 95 points. A truly memorable and auspicious tasting.

A.P. nr. 2 577 050 20 84 7.3% A/V

This most remarkable offering from Fritz Haag must rate as one of the most compelling German Riesling’s I’ve had the pleasure of trying in my twenty-five years of serious wine drinking. Admittedly, my exposure, to date, of the great estates, vineyards and the best vintages has been less than stellar, but with this particular wine, such is its beauty, composure and completeness and with its almost inbuilt sense of indelibility, deserves every point of the 95 I’ve given it tonight.

The colour belies its considerable age - a very healthy bright light gold. The bouquet holds a beguiling mix of freshly squeezed lime, lemon zest, white peach, yellow nectarine and mandarin intertwined with a flinty minerality, river pebbles, a touch of honey and a whisper of wet clay. There’s not the slightest suggestion petrol or apricot kernel - an amazing feat! In the mouth the wine reaches another plateau - gorgeously delineated, fresh, silky and rounded, filling every portal with exquisite flavours of lime, ripe Packham pear, nectarine, crisp newly picked apple, redcurrant and a suggestion of cassis all wrapped in a shroud of impeccable mineral-tinged refreshing, crisp acidity that leads to a morish sweet and sour finish of great authority and length. Such are the seemingly immortal powers of this wine, I would predict a drinking window from now to something approaching 2023. Any of the resident German Riesling gurus can correct me on my possibly outlandish assertion but I’m happy to hold a few of these back for some time to see if my prediction holds true.

A. P. nr. 3 551 083-19-84 A/V 7.7%

I recently opened a TCA-affected bottle of this and thought it only fit and proper I drag another from the cellar for reconsideration.

Beguiling youthful colour of bright light gold with a gorgeous flash of green as you raise the glass to the light. Delicate, but intriguing, still quite floral bouquet of honey, minerals, overripe honey-dew melon, waxy apple, nectarine and just a touch of spice, smoke and petrol - still relatively fresh and invigorating. Perhaps not in the first tier but awfully good all the same. The palate marches to the beat of a very similar drum - silky in the mouth but with an intense honeyed richness, not a great amount of cleansing acidity but just enough to maintain focus and counterbalance. Flavours of honey-dipped ripe nectarine, baked Granny Smith apples, a touch of minerale and hint of petrol round off a very attractive, fully mature Saar Riesling that may have been better several years ago. The finish is most impressive with terrific lingering honeyed stone fruit flavours. 90 points (Excellent) from me today. This is definitely a drink now proposition.

Mount Barker, Western Australia 12.5% A/V Secured with a screwcap.

This beautifully poised example of Australian dry Riesling retains youthful straw/green tinges to its bright pale gold colour, an exemplary, lively nose of musky limes, green apples, freshly toasted bread, a beguiling minerality, quite unusual suggestions of herbaceousness and a latent whiff of petrol fumes as a top note. The palate carries this wine’s years with astonishing aplomb. Crisp and quite flinty with an abundance of freshly-squeezed lime juice and “Granny Smith” apple counterbalanced with bucketloads of yet-to-fully-integrate mouthpuckering minerally acidity. The finish is taught, dry as a bone and seemingly needs several more years to soften and allow the wonderful fruit to come to the fore and build more towards the back end. 90 points today with better things in store over the next 3-5 years. I estimate this excellent juice has between five and ten years good drinking ahead of it.    

Postscript - after two days open (cap on, in fridge) this wine has improved! More lemon pith and grapefruit to be found on nose and palate (the herbaceous and apply characters have all but disappeared) with the overt acid levels subsiding, allowing more palate length and better overall structure. 92 point rating on tonight’s performance. I’m very pleased I’ve sat on my stash of this for several years!

13.0% A/V Cork sealed $22

A surprise replacement on the shelf of a local wine shop who’d just sold out of the 2007!

Pristine infantile colour of bright white/green with a whisper of pale straw. Quite reticent bouquet on opening, far greater and more perplexing aromatics on day two, revealing earthy minerals, river pebbles, subtle lime, pear and pomegranate with the merest suggestion of redcurrant. The palate displays an immaculate line, houses an abundance of crunchy citrus fruit, an inviting minerality, simply marvellous acid cut and impeccable carry. For such a terrific Riesling nearing its third birthday to show such understatement in its development, a long drinking window must be forecast. Quality of this wine is beyond reproach. 93+ points. A marvellous sibling to cellar and compare over the next several years to the outstanding 2002.

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.

the petaluma oozes class with a brilliant glowing infantile white straw colour, continually unfolding and building, still relatively primary, aromatics of orange blossom, grapefruit, musk, pear drop, minerals, lime and a just a hint of secondary toasty development. the palate harbours a solid and multidimensional core of musk, lime, oranges, pears and chalk, all underpinned by an incredible dose of mouth-puckering mineral-laced acidity and a prolonged finish of great authority. this tremendous oz riesling deserves the self-praise heaped upon this wine on the back label. this vintage rivals, and, in my most humble opinion, surpasses, the fabled 1980 vintage, winemaker brian croser compares it to. it displays all the hallmarks of a classic ageworthy clare valley riesling and should live for another decade and a half given proper cellaring conditions. 12.8% a/v, sealed with a cork closure. 94 points

the mcwilliams “old hill” is a recent auction purchase I now have no regrets paying a little over top for securing the right to tonight’s tasting. displaying a transluscent but very healthy brick red colour with abundant rust and brown in the meniscus, the haunting nose offers up a wealth of old leather, plenty of sweet earth, some dusty oak and a strong undercurrent of red cherry liquer over a backdrop of a ‘drying smidge’ of v.a (schlack), a hint of cigar box, nutmeg and an ultimate, alluring top note of licorice. so intoxicating is the bouquet, one can only go back to it, time and time again and wonder on how this wine looked to all the lucky punters who got to try it at various times in the past. the palate opened somewhat disappointingly empty and a little short, but as I sit here sipping on it for the third hour, I am absolutely dazzled by the improved performance. silky in texture as a rare red burg, this corker abounds with red fruits of cherry and currant displaying similarly perplexing virtues I found in the bouquet. exquisitely profound with such a diversity of nuance it’s difficult to know where it starts and finishes. at forty-two years of age, this shiraz is still alive and kicking with enough acidity and some lacy tannins providing backbone to the glossy fruit. surely one of the most wonderful balanced and compelling bottles of aged oz red I’ve had the pleasure of assessing, this wine fully deserves a score of 95 points. on the indication of how this particular bottle opened, I can vouch for the 1965 hunter red vintage of being up there with the best of the twentieth century. unfortunately, due to my parents procreation schedule, I doubt I’ll have little chance to enjoy the great wines of the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s that the genius winemaker, maurice o’shea, made under the mcwilliams label.

Secured a dozen bottles of this superb Riesling at release, wishing now I had bought (a whole lot) more.

Luminescent straw gold. Captivating integrated nose of petrol, honey on toast and freshly squeezed limes. The palate simply amazes with vibrant, crunchy lime and crisp green apple fruit with lemon pith and grapefruit thrown in for good measure. Holds a gorgeous line through the mouth, powerful but terrificly pure and racy with perfectly meshed mineral-tinged acidity providing necessary counterbalance and assured longevity. Needless to say, this spectacularly good white reverberates almost endlessly on the back palate with such aplomb for me to award the exceptional rating of ninety-five points. A truly great drinking experience. Drink now-2018. Congratulations to the team at Alkoomi for such a brilliant example of bottle-aged Riesling that still has plenty of petrol in the tank.

11.0% a/v. Cork closure

A rivetting example of Alsace VT Riesling - quite an austere example compared to the Zind-Humbrecht “Clos Jesbal” Pinot Gris 1990 reviewed below - but no less rivetting. Perfectly balanced from start to finish with an incredible array of almost dry extract showing complex waxy apple curd, minerals, spicy botrytis notes and an eerie petroluem overlay. Superb mouthfeel, gorgeous integrated acid cut and a wonderful departure. 95 points on its’ ear.