Vented my concerns at my last bottle opened due to overpowering reductive characters on both nose and palate. Thought it opportune to crack another to compare.

Brilliant, starbright palest of straw/green colour. Sensational fresh aromatics of citrus blossoms, intense limey minerals and slightly browned wholemeal toast. The palate delivers an identical story; power-packed, incredibly well-delineated with laser-like focus, rapier minerally acidity supporting bucketloads of tight lime fruit. Finishes with sublime crispness, almost perfect equilibrium and astonishing length. 94 points. A thoroughly brilliant example with, perhaps, two decades of superior drinking ahead. Now my only concern is - why was this bottle so good and the last one so reductive? Perhaps one of the screwcap experts can enlighten me about such flagrant bottle variation from such a top producer?

Bottled under screwcap with an A/V of 13.0%

Recently re-released from the Great Western cellar door, this Outstanding mature Riesling harbours a mature golden hue, heady honeyed aromas of spiced apricot, Granny Smith apples, a deft touch of toasty bottle development and the last vestige of musky florals. Honeyed and quite viscous in the mouth with abundant flavours of apple and limes, a distinctive spicy botrytis overtone perfectly counterbalanced by quite lively refreshing acidity that cleans up the presence of a little residual sugar. Finishes surprisingly crisp and with incredible persistence. Probably nearing its peak drinking window, I would opt for drinking this impressive wine over the next year or two. 90 points. 12.5% A/V and sealed with a cork. 

Tuesday night I got to try a masked 2001 Seven Hills Clare Valley Riesling - most impressive - revealing a youthful straw/green colour, terrific aromatics of lime, herbs and the first vestige of toast, honey and kero. Brilliant mid-palate of lime pastille, mineral with a moderate/long dry, crisp departure. 91 points. Drink now-2011. Cork sealed.

I followed with my masked bottle of 1996 Seppelt Dorrien Cabernet - Outstanding wine really coming in to its’ own - deep colour, robust nose of savoury/vanillin/coconut oak, dark plums, chocolate, Asian spices, cedar and herbs - all beautifully integrated. The palate displays plenty of extract, glossy choco-berry fruit, plenty of supporting cedary/savoury oak, good acidity and very fine lacey tannins. Lovely smooth, rounded mouthfeel, extraordinary balance and a lengthy authoritative after-taste. 93 points. Drink now-2016.

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. 

My first try of this Piesport producer, this wine from the great first growth “Domherr” vineyard. 7.5% A/V. The bright light gold colour is followed by a heavily sulphured bouquet that persists even with extended swirling and plenty of air time just sitting in the glass, virtually swamping whatever fruit that may be waiting underneath. Bummer! Eventually, I was able to coax some beautiful honeyed, slaty peach and nectarine fruit - four hours after the wine was opened. Thankfully the palate is a thing of great beauty and deserves special commendation, dancing in the mouth with a melange of perfectly-judged, ripe stone and citrus fruits of white peach, nectarine, pear, orange, crisp green apple and a touch of redcurrant. Displaying great purity and immaculate weight, the balancing mineral-laden acidity provides the perfect foil to the wonderful sweet fruit, leaving this taster begging for more after every sip. With a crisp, long, authoritative finish that coats the mouth this wine may just need extra bottle age for the sulphur found in the nose to peter out for something very special to emerge. The palate is truly Outstanding and worthy of any German Riesling fan’s attention. 91 points for now. I’ll leave the other bottle in the cellar for several years and hopefully my prayers (for the bouquet to improve) may be answered. Drink 2011-2018.   

A superb example of Polish Hill Riesling revealing classic aged bottled characters and, seemingly, an almost indelible freshness. Displaying a youthful bright light yellow colour, the bouquet offers up an intriguing integrated amalgam of honey, freshly squeezed limes, toast and just a whiff of petrol. In the mouth, the wine excels with a superb richness of nuance as detailed above, gorgeous mouthfilling texture, seamlessly meshed to very fine minerally acidity, followed by a gloriously mature honeyed, but still refreshing, departure suggesting this wine is close to reaching its zenith. Drink now-2012. 93 points. Brilliant, for what it is! 12.5% A/V and sealed with a conventional cork. 

Made by the legendary ex-Leo Buring Riesling guru, John Vickery, sealed with a stelvin screwcap and 12% alcohol by volume.

The most brilliant starbright pale lemon/green. If not for the severe reduction on both nose and palate, I believe there’d be a lot to like about this wine. Continual small pours over six hours all suffered the same fate - cordite, struck match and rubber overpowering some delectable tight citrus fruit with a toasty undertone. The acid structure on the palate provides suggests many years of development if not for the dominating sulphide problems, of course. Bummer. 75 points. Postscript - the last glass sat for one hour without swirling and definitely lost some of the sulphur on both nose and palate - a much better wine in every department. Closer to 85 points now.

Once again, raises the issue of proper/careful sulphur management by winemakers when using screwcaps.

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.

Screwcap. 12% A/V

Colour is bright straw with a petrolly nose over lime, a dash of honey and a hint of toast lurking underneath. Still fresh on the palate although slightly phenolic with crunchy lime and toasty fruit married to well-integrated acids. Finishes a little short. A much more impressive wine at release. I’d opt for drinking this sooner than later. 83 points.