We gathered every example of riesling from the Clare Valley that we could find and set our expert panel the task of finding the wines that compelled the most. All wines were tasted blind, and each panellist named their top six wines. Below are the wines that made the panellists’ top-six selections from the tasting.
Our panel: Belinda Thomson, chief winemaker and viticulturist, Crawford River Wines; John Nagorcka, founder and chief winemaker, Hochkirch; Hayley Williamson, co-owner and wine buyer, Nina’s Bar & Restaurant; Sam Baxter, sommelier, Geralds Bar; Sophie O’Kane, head sommelier and venue manager, Julie Restaurant; Hayley Farquar, wine merchant, City Wine Shop and The European.
This wine appeared in the top six wines of the day for Baxter, O’Kane, and Farquar. Baxter described “this is quintessential Clare riesling, with a twist. The green hue delivers on its promise. The bouquet is explosive – green and mean, it begins with capsicum, lime peel, green pear, gooseberry, and subtly follows with green passionfruit, honeydew melon and underripe green mango. The textured palate flips the script – it’s all juicy, ripe white pears and green melon rind. The angular acidity soaks up the juiciness, driving the wine’s long finish.” O’Kane noted “a wine of distinction from a field of reasonable homogeneity. There are ripe fruit characters here – white peaches hiding underneath some river slate, refreshing and lifted. There is possibly some residual sugar here that nicely balances the acidity, and the texture verges on mousse-like. Elegant and luscious, this would be perfect as an aperitif … maybe with a plate of mortadella.” Farquar found “pale gold in the glass, this wine shows honeyed characters while still being pretty and lifted. The bright acidity cuts through wine while still feeling integrated. The nectarine note carries along the palate as the flavour notes follow a spectrum from citrus oils through blossom characters to something fruity but green – a strawberry leaf character balanced by the riper fruit characters of white plum and nectarine.”
Nagorcka and Baxter both selected this wine among their top six from the blind tasting. Nagorcka described “deeper yellow in colour. The nose shows squeezed lemon, lemon zest, and dry straw with a hint of petrol and wet stone. On the palate, it’s dry, with nice weight – built on phenolic grip and minerality – showing lemon citrus bitters and touch of honey. All of these characters balance its firm acidity, and together give it quite good palate length.” Baxter called it “the show stopper of Clare Valley riesling – a golden hue explodes with notes of fresh lime peel, white pear, baked white peach, Ironbark gum, bread dough, cashew nuts, and the sweet, sweet smell of gasoline. The palate contrasts with a tart acid line similar to sweet Italian lime, with soft sweetness of spider flower and the herbaceousness of nettle balancing the palate. It finishes like lime curd – refreshing, slightly creamy and long, making you thirst for more. It’s like an old friend – one you want to savour, and really unwind with.”
This wine made the top six wines of the tasting for O’Kane, Nagorcka, and Baxter. O’Kane exclaimed “phwoar! Flinty stone and minerality jump out of the glass, causing me to raise my eyebrows. There are smooth aromas of Pine-Lime Splice – a perfect match for a hot Australian summer’s day. On the palate, lime juice notes transitions into lime pith – like you’re sucking on a lime wedge instead of orange at half time of round three. The texture is lovely, the lime and the Splice working in awesome harmony.” Nagorcka noted “pale yellow in colour. An interesting nose, showing squeezed lemon juice and pulp with hints of lychee, dry straw, and wet stones. In the mouth, this shows good palate weight, with flavours of crushed lemon, restrained lychee, and a hint of ripe white peach.” Baxter described “this wine is a practice in terroir – one smell and your mind races back to the Clare and its sloping hills. You can almost lick the rocks through this wine, with a rich texture and profoundly crystalline crunchiness, backed by an integrated, curved acid profile and waxy finish.”
Williamson, Baxter, and Thomson included this wine in their top six selections from the tasting. Williamson described “the aroma leaps straight out of the glass – unmistakably reminiscent of a Macca’s apple pie! Alongside this are notes of yellow peach, nectarine, zesty lime and a hint of pear-jam sweetness. The palate has a pleasantly viscous, slightly oily texture, but overall remains light-hearted and fun. An easy-drinking, crowd-pleasing wine with plenty of charm.” Baxter noted “this wine is the perfect summer coastline tipple. A can of tennis balls, lime zest, Calamansi lime, sorrel and crushed limestone dust blend seamlessly on the nose. The coastal aromas make way for a Goulburn Valley Fruit Snack of a palate – fresh-cut white peach, and juicy white nectarine create a fleshy texture upon the taut acid line.” Thomson found it “so powdery, pretty and perfumed. Soft and balanced, with delicious high-toned notes of white florals – jasmine and orange blossom. The acidity here is really refreshing without being in your face. This is just so drinkable – yum!”
This wine appeared in the top six wines on the day for Thomson and O’Kane. Thomson described “sexy aromatics – there’s so much going on here, with betel leaf, ginger spice and ginger flower all thrown in to the mix. Gorgeous balance and length, with a nice chalky edge and depth of texture as it leads to an impressively long finish. There’s an edge of bitterness here which is really important in the wine, giving dimension and huge value to the overall complexity.” O’Kane noted “who knew that lemons and limes could have such a spectrum of flavour and texture? Here we have lemon sherbet and starfruit – it’s not quite tropical, but this is as much describing this wine’s texture as its flavour. The palate has a lusciousness – it’s textural and tasty. It dances on the palate, and it’s exciting. You could easily guzzle this or pair it with food – the choice is yours!”
Thomson and Baxter both selected this wine among their top six picks. Thomson noted “this plays really well to Clare Valley and her strengths, with plenty of lemon/lime zest and juice on the nose and through the palate. There’s some influence here from some time on lees perhaps, which makes for a smooth palate and plenty of other flavour compounds like grapefruit and spice. A good amount of textural interest here – some gentle chew and richness. This lasts and lasts on the palate, with a powdery talc-like texture, quite delicate and even throughout.” Baxter described “close your eyes, and imagine a marriage of native and European flavours – this wine is the result. The classic ‘freshly opened can of tennis balls’ on the nose gives way to lime zest, limonata, green cider apple, white gum, honkey nut, bottle brush, and crushed quarry stone. The striking, bright Granny Smith apple acidity is backed by a green sour grass/sorrel phenolic note, and it finishes long, tart and herbaceous.”
Williamson and Nagorcka included this wine in their top six selections. Williamson described “a very pretty nose of white peach and jasmine opens the wine. The palate shows classic Clare Valley character, with steely minerality and zippy lemon-skin acidity, complemented by subtle pastry notes and a touch of sea salt. Clean, fresh and well-balanced, this wine speaks clearly of its place – although it would be best enjoyed beachside, with a bag of hot chips.” Nagorcka noted “a pale yellow colour. The nose seem a little reduced at first, with a tarry, rubbery aroma initially dominant. This subsides with oxygen, giving way to sweet Meyer lemon pulp and zest, as well as dry straw. A little phenolic extract gives adequate palate weight to the wine, balancing its flavours of lemon fruit, a touch of honeyed sweetness and dusty straw nicely.”
Farquar chose this wine for her top six wines from the blind tasting, describing “aromatically intense, this wine feels classic of its variety: high acid, citric, and ripe. The body itself has good grip and is supported by flavours of brioche, beeswax, and honey. The citrus character is primarily zesty, with notes of guava and pink grapefruit. Primary fruits of yellow pear, and white nectarine are concentrated and clear. Green characters in the fruit are balanced by ripe characters, and the acidity feels integrated into the fruit and winemaking. This wine shows depth and complexity – all of the disparate notes sit in the wine together to make a holistic wine.”
Williamson chose this wine for her top six wines from the tasting, describing “aromatic notes of sweet stone fruit lead the way – all white peach and plum – layered with honeysuckle and jasmine. On the palate, the wine turns gently savoury and biscuity, yet remains pretty and precise, with a salty lime-juice acidity running through the centre. Subtle ginger and white pepper notes add interest and lift. This is a more thought-provoking style, best enjoyed alongside food – think fresh crudités or cold seafood.”
Thomson selected this wine among her top six wines of the day, noting “pretty, earthy florals: violets and edges of dried herbs, think lemon thyme and bay. The soft acidity falls gently around your, mouth making for great drinking. Delicious mouthfeel from start to finish – like licking river stones. Great length and balance. This wine goes on and on after you finish drinking it – pure joy. This wine screams for an afternoon session paired with citrus-cured snapper or mullaway alongside a slick of high-quality olive oil.”
This wine appeared in the top six picks for O’Kane and Baxter. O’Kane described “the aromas are a little muted – shy and reserved at first, with an ever so slight hint of floral – white petalled flowers like jasmine. The first sip reveals a chalky acidity which gives the wine a tension that intrigues. The flavours are in the fresh lemon and lime spectrum, alongside crisp green apples. The flavours and texture linger to give an elongated shape to the wine. I would grab some food – might I suggest something fried, like leek and gruyere croquettes or maybe fish and chips?” Baxter noted “this wine is a tour guide, taking you on a walkabout around the bush. Sorrel blends with spider flowers, finger lime, sunshine lime and Calamansi lime, followed by a crushed, crystalline minerality and the dust of a white gravel road. The palate is angular, yet is curved by a crunchy Nashi pear texture. Bold, fine-boned and with a long way to go in life.”
Thomson and Williamson included this wine in their top six wines from the tasting. Thomson described “heaps of pretty, powdery perfume here – talc overtones coupled with elderflower and apple blossom. It feels as though the wine has matured and settled into itself somewhat, with a mellow, subtle integration of flavours through the palate. There’s a slight saline edge that makes the wine really salivating. This has some lovely, developed characters – think lemon curd, walnut, and macadamia cream. The persistence of its acidity carries the wine from start to finish and lends great kudos to the winemaking.” Williamson noted “a classic, inviting nose of apricot, peach and fresh basil. The palate shows interesting texture and a fine chalky grip, with touches of musk stick and flavours of lightly poached stone fruit. Savoury in style, yet finishing with a lovely sweetness – this is a a wine with broad appeal and plenty of personality.”
Nagorcka chose this wine for his top six wines of the day, noting “a light yellow colour, with a restrained aromatic profile: rubbed lemon skin and wet stone with an intriguing medicinal smell reminiscent of calamine lotion – fleeting and very subtle. Good palate weight and a slight oily texture, with great balanced phenolic bitterness and grip leading the charge. A nice wet-stone minerality takes equal billing with pulpy lemon and lime fruit – easily balancing the wine’s acidity and giving good length.”
Farquar selected this wine among her top six selections, describing “an interesting spread of aromas and flavours makes this wine compelling – the most intense of all being the distinct flavour of gingerbread cookies. The winemaking feels well integrated into the wine, with notes of sourdough, pastry and cookie supporting the primary fruit characters of Thai basil, lemon curd, and green apple. The wine’s high acidity complements the lees work that have fleshed out the body. There is a salty and chalky character in this wine which speaks of the limestone which Clare is known for. Pretty and delicate while being complex and weighty – this is delicious, and a serious contender for my pick of the day.”
Williamson included this wine in her top six picks from the tasting, describing “creamy aromas of shortbread and concentrated apple are lifted by delicate floral blossom notes. The palate is juicy and rich with lovely texture, driven by bold lemon-skin acidity and a gentle bite of ginger and white pepper. Classic minerality and excellent length round out a wine of real presence and finesse. I can imagine this working exceptionally well with a spicy Thai Tom Sum salad.”
O’Kane and Williamson both selected this wine among their top six wines from the blind tasting. O’Kane noted “another wine with tension, energy and depth. The aromas are soft and supple, and ever so slightly honeyed – the fresh honey of fruit flavour, not the honeyed complexity of age. The acidity on the palate is delightfully crunchy, which fades into other crunchy orchard fruits like green apples and green pears. Those fruit characters linger in the mid-palate, and are zipped up from all directions by the acid. Solid.” Williamson described “the nose bursts with aromas of tinned crushed pineapple and golden apple, leaning into apricot on the palate. These fruit-salad flavours give way to brioche and gentle oiliness, followed by chalky texture, accented by ginger and thyme. The wine evolves with each return to the glass – the wonderful kind of drop to enjoy slowly over an evening.”
Farquar chose this wine for her top six wines on the day, describing “clear and cutting, this is a citrus-driven wine, lead by notes of lemon juice, green apple, and pink grapefruit, which are supported by white blossom, green melon, and apricot skins. On the palate, the wine is ultra-bright and fresh – the acidity initially attempts to rip your face off, and the wine almost feels carbonated. That brightness still stood out on retasting, so this isn’t one for Clare riesling novices – but that acidity carries the flavours along the palate superbly. A brilliant, lively wine that absolutely cries out to be paired with fatty foods – think rich cuts of salmon, creamy cheeses, or Asian pork belly dishes.”
Nagorcka selected this wine among his top six wines from the tasting, noting “pale yellow in colour. A bigger and broader aromatic profile than many others in the line-up: lemon flesh and zest, plus a slight floral aroma that hints at rose petals. Quite robust on the palate, with salty mineral extract giving adequate weight to balance the rose petal and juicy lemon fruit characters. A spine of firm acidity balances the fruit and minerality, driving the wine down the palate towards a lengthy finish. This is a wine that could meet poached salt cod and potatoes with aioli on its own terms – and doubtlessly please everyone.”
Nagorcka and O’Kane included this wine in their top six selections. Nagorcka described “pale yellow in the glass. Aromatically subdued, with some lemon zest and an interesting slightly oily character. A little residual sugar sweetness on the palate, alongside a pleasant hint of phenolic bitterness, gives appropriate weight on the palate, which shows flavours of lemon flesh and peel. There’s adequate acidity in the early and mid-palate, but that touch of sweetness dominates at the end to finish a touch cloying.” O’Kane noted “an intriguing wine. There is warmth and ripeness to this wine, evidenced by notes of braised lemon skins, lemon balm, and hints of woodchip. The acidity gives this wine a phenolic texture, which provides a structure to the undercurrant of citrus balm flavours and soft pillowy lusciousness.”
Farquar chose this wine for her top six picks from the blind tasting, describing “high and bright acidity is matched here with sweet and bright fruit characters to make an an easy-drinking and fun wine. Shows depth of flavour through wet stone, white pepper, and ginger notes – and while the classic hallmark petrol flavour is present, it’s not overwhelming. The fruit characters are dominated by pear – in the forms of pear leaf and tinned pear notes – while the citrus notes are firmly in the lime category. This wine showcases all of the things I enjoy about Clare rieslings – it’s a beautifully refreshing, high-acid, and ripe white wine.”
Thomson selected this wine among her top six wines of the day, describing “a spunky example of Clare riesling. Shows a gorgeous, luscious mouthfeel and texture that lends immediate interest to the wine. So much flavour, too! White florals – think gardenia and elderflower – show on the first whiff and carry throughout the palate. These heady aromatics lead to a flavour-packed palate full of white stone fruits and more elderflower. From start to finish, this is a wine that shows multiple dimensions of flavour and interest.”
Farquar included this wine in her top six wines from the tasting, noting “redolent with exotic notes of Thai basil, lime pith, and something charcuterie like mortadella. Green and slightly savoury, this wine shows mainly herbaceous and citrus notes with a cleansing phenolic grip. The body shows notes of beeswax and honey, balancing well with the bitterness of the greener characters. A very interesting wine, with lingering citrus, this shows an interesting perspective on the variety, and the region. This wine would pair very well with a spicy curry – especially a Thai green curry.”
The Clare Valley is, like the Barossa Valley, part of an ancient geological formation known as the Adelaide Superbasin, formed when Australia was part of a larger supercontinent known as Rodinia. It’s the northernmost in a series of South Australian wine-growing valley and hill regions strung along the Mount Lofty Ranges – which stretches from Southern Fleurieu, south of Adelaide, through McLaren Vale, Adelaide Hills, and Barossa and Eden Valleys up to the Clare. While there are a handful of vineyards located to the Clare’s north in the Southern Flinders Ranges GI, it’s fair to say that the Clare Valley is South Australia’s northernmost major wine region – a green oasis right on the border of the dry grasslands that in turn fringe the vast deserts of South Australia’s interior.
Being further inland than many South Australian wine regions, the Clare experiences a high level of what wine types like to call ‘continentality’ – hot summers and cool winters. Continental wine regions tend to also show large temperature shifts between day and night throughout the growing season – known as ‘diurnal variation’ – and the Clare Valley’s diurnal variation can be extreme, with some past growing seasons having recorded 40°C days followed by 1°C nights. While the region’s temperature swings aren’t always that extreme, the contrast between hot days and chilly nights has allowed it to become known for a style of wine that many wouldn’t imagine growing on the doorstep of the outback: fresh and razor-sharp dry rieslings.
Prior to the arrival of British colonists, most of the Clare Valley was owned and stewarded by the Ngadjuri people, with small portions belonging to the Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains. Owing to its northerly location, it was surveyed and settled a little later than the nearby Barossa Valley, with the first European settlers arriving in 1840. The town of Clare, from which the wine region gets its name, was established in 1842, and is named after Ireland’s County Clare. The early colonial history of the region is one of relatively swift dispossession, with many Ngadjuri succumbing to introduced diseases, as well as being forced off their ancestral lands by Europeans seizing control of food and water sources. Many of the Ngadjuri who were left moved to Point Pearce mission in 1868, where their unique cultural identity was diluted by intermarriage to other South Australian indigenous groups. As such, much remains unknown about Ngadjuri life prior to colonisation – although since the 1990s the current Ngadjuri community has commenced the process of reclaiming their cultural heritage and traditional knowledge.
As in many other parts of South Australia, vines and wine arrived shortly after Europeans, with the first vine cuttings – supposedly from Madeira, but more likely from South Africa – landing in the ground in 1840. Early viticulture in the area was for private consumption, and remained so until 1851, when the Jesuit mission at Sevenhill planted vines in order to produce sacramental wines, which they soon began selling to other Christian faith communities. (Sevenhill Cellars, as it is now known, remains as the oldest operating Clare winery – and still sells sacramental wine, as well as table wines.) The Clare Valley’s proximity to the enormous copper deposits in Burra (discovered in 1845) saw the region rapidly develop as an farming hub. That growth was compounded when the South Australian government began promoting development in the north of the state in 1869, and the town of Clare soon became an important transit hub and source of agricultural products – including wine.
Despite the region’s current reputation for riesling, those early vineyards were mostly comprised of shiraz, cabernet sauvignon, and verdelho – a varietal mix that appealed to the tastes of the British market. The enormous Spring Vale vineyard, planted in 1865 and later renamed ‘Quelltaler’, became an important source for bulk ‘claret’ wines from the 1870s onwards, which were shipped to London to be sold by wine merchant Peter Bond Burgoyne. During this first heyday, the Clare Valley’s vineyard area expanded, and local icons such as A. P. Birks’s Wendouree were established – not to mention the Stanley Wine Co. (Yes, that Stanley.) But it was not to last, with the British market for bulk Australian table wines collapsing in the mid–1890s. The Stanley Wine Co., under the direction of Joseph H. Knappstein, pivoted hard to fortified wine in 1903 – a move that many others in South Australia swiftly followed. The Export Bounty Act of 1924 cemented sweet fortified wine production as the bread and butter of Australia’s wine industry – a situation that wouldn’t begin to change until the mid–1950s.
The late winemaker Jim Barry not only witnessed the seismic shift away from fortified wines to table wines in the 1950s – but was also a key player in the Clare’s pivot back to table wines. In 1947, at the age of 21 and having freshly graduated from the Roseworthy winemaking course, he became the region’s first trained winemaker when he took on a role at Clarevale. “My father was very much a typical Irish man,” Jim’s daughter Julie Ann Barry says. “His grandparents came out from County Clare in Ireland – which is quite unusual, because Barrys usually came from County Cork. It was a full-circle moment when my father ended up in Clare as a young winemaker.” The landscape at the time was radically different to the Clare of today. “The wineries were all basically co-ops – they bought the grapes from local growers, who didn’t have their own wineries,” Julie says. “The growers would just bring the grapes in when they thought they were ripe. And their main product at that time – in 1947, when he turned up in Clare – was fortified.” The red fortifieds would be made from local stalwarts malbec, mataro, and shiraz – while, as Julie puts it, “the main white grape was crouchen”. This was, somewhat ironically, known as ‘Clare riesling’: “People actually thought it was riesling – they didn’t know,” Julie says. Growing awareness that the region’s ‘riesling’ might be anything but the real deal raised awareness of the variety – “I think that’s when people like my father started having exposure to real riesling,” she adds. (French ampelographer Paul Truel finally confirmed the long-held suspicion that ‘Clare riesling’ was actually crouchen when he visited the region in 1976.)
As Australian palates began to become accustomed to table wines instead of fortifieds – a long and slow process commenced by the pioneering Maurice O’Shea in the 1940s and followers such as Cyril Henschke and Max Schubert of Penfolds through the ’50s and early ’60s – demand for white wines began to increase. Julie credits German-born winemaker Wolfgang ‘Wolf’ Blass, who arrived in Australia in 1961, with the development of Australian white wines. She says of her father, “He realised that to really make white wine – and that came from a lot of conversations with Wolf Blass – that it needs to be fermented in cool conditions. It needs refrigeration.” It also required a far more diligent approach to cellar hygiene. “Wineries back in the day would run any wine – because it was all red or ‘Port’ – through the same channels,” she says. “They weren’t big into hygiene. But red wine is actually incredibly easy to make – white wine is the hard one.” Blass, who was passionate about information sharing at a time when large Australian wine companies kept their techniques close to their chests, spread the word about how to make sound, fruit-forward dry white wines in an ultra-clean and pure manner. Blass wasn’t the only one – other pioneers of the style include Jim Irvine and John Vickery, whose experiments in the early 1960s lead to the development of the now-standard Australian riesling style – made in stainless steel tanks to limit oxygen exposure, at cool temperatures to preserve fruit character, and, importantly, bone-dry.
“Wineries back in the day would run any wine – because it was all red or ‘Port’ – through the same channels. They weren’t big into hygiene. But red wine is actually incredibly easy to make – white wine is the hard one.”
Vickery was an early believer in the potential of the Clare for true riesling – in 1962 he grafted the variety over the top of Leo Buring Wines’ Florita vineyard, which had originally been planted in 1946 to fortified wine varieties and some crouchen. In 1986, Leo Buring’s corporate owners, Lindemans, sold the Florita vineyard to Jim Barry Wines – which had, until that time, been largely focused on premium red wines from its Armagh vineyard. “That really got my father moving on riesling,” Julie says. “At this time people were moving from only drinking reds to starting to understand whites. His first whites were called ‘White Rhine Riesling’ … then it just seemed to take off.” Jim Barry’s early ‘Rhine Rieslings’ were not quite as austere as they would later become: As Julie recalls, “His riesling back in the day would have possibly contained up to six grams residual sugar, because people were not wanting to drink dry – they were drinking sweeter. And it was seen as a lady’s drink.” Jim Barry also produced another cuvée called ‘Lavender Hill’ with a higher level again of residual sugar. “Everyone could drink it. No-one else was doing one that sweet, and that was the big seller.” But as palates matured throughout the late eighties, Jim Barry’s dry Watervale riesling became, as Julie puts it, “the one wine that has carried that company consistently and kept the cash-flow going. It’s probably in every bottle shop in Australia.” Alongside the single-vineyard ‘Florita’ riesling, it remains a standard-bearer for the region’s style of riesling.
As a young winemaker in the late 1970s, Jeffrey Grosset was drawn to the Clare specifically for its riesling. “I arrived in the Clare because there were varieties that I loved – riesling and cabernet sauvignon in particular – so it made sense that the Clare Valley was on the list of places I’d like to be,” he says. When he set out from a corporate winemaking job to start his own business in the early 1980s, he drew inspiration from Vickery’s style of rieslings. “My memory of the wines in the ’70s and early ’80s would be examples like Vickery’s ‘DWB13’ for Leo Buring,” he says. “They were moderate alcohol, low-ish extract, quite fine wines that were dry – quite linear and expressive. To me, that was Clare riesling – and Australian riesling. That was the starting point for me.” Grosset’s own take on the style was evolutionary rather than revolutionary: “I made that I got the fruit as ripe as I could without compromising the backbone – without getting overripe characters,” he says. “Full ripeness, to me, was to ensure a degree of generosity and not have it too lean – to have the generosity to go with that backbite.”
By this stage, the ‘Clare riesling’ identification issue had been well and truly put to bed. “There was still some crouchen in the ground, but I believe it had all been identified,” Grosset says. “And so, fairly quickly, the market for it and its price dropped away.” Despite this fact, this historical misidentification had some unexpected consequences: “In 1993, Australia’s label integrity laws were proposed, and they were maybe some of the best, if not the best label integrity laws in the world – with one clear exception,” Grosset recalls. “There was a section that said, in the case of riesling, the wine can only be labelled as riesling if it’s from the variety – unless you meant to indicate a style when you were using the term, or unless you weren’t intending to indicate the true variety. So that completely nullified the application of label integrity to riesling.” Incensed at the idea that larger corporate entities would be able to continue confusing the wine-buying public by using the word ‘riesling’ to refer to wines made from other varieties such as crouchen or semillon, he commenced a campaign to lobby the Australian government to remove this loophole: “There were a few people in larger companies who wanted to keep going with their cask wine or whatever, and they thought that they would lose market – they weren’t seeing the bigger picture that it was wrong,” he says. “What we’ve done over the years would be precision, innovation, and integrity – we pursued all of those. And this was a broader issue, not just our own vineyard and what we do, but a broader integrity. So we were joined by other winemakers – and in 2000, we got the wording changed.”
“There was no great wine, only great bottles – because, under cork, the variation would be so significant that the next bottle would be different to the one you just opened.”
The year 2000 was a watershed moment for the integrity of Clare riesling in another way. It saw the introduction of screwcaps (or ‘Stelvin closures’ as the wine trade calls them) on the bottles of thirteen different Clare Valley producers’ rieslings – a technically challenging switch that Grosset drove alongside Andrew ‘Ox’ Hardy, Stephanie Toole, and Andrew Mitchell. The change was driven by not only by a dissatisfaction with the quality of natural corks coming from Portugal, but also as part broader push for winemakers to have control over their finished product. “By this stage, we had this control over everything – except for the quality of the closure,” Grosset says. “There was no great wine, only great bottles – because under cork, the variation would be so significant that the next bottle would be different to the one you just opened. And of course, every now and then, you would get a bottle that was contaminated by the cork.” This was an issue that bedevilled the entirety of the Australian wine industry, of course, but Grosset argues that it’s no accident that Clare Riesling was ground zero for the movement: “It’s probably easier to detect the difference in riesling,” Grosset says. “Riesling is the most sensitive to cork taint and the variation in oxygen permeability – reds tend to be more resilient to those.” The closures were rapidly taken up by many more producers than the original coterie of thirteen, and in a very short amount of time became the standard not only for Clare riesling, but for Australian wine in general (approximately 90% of our wine is now sealed under Stelvin). With the dual issues of varietal labelling and bottle spoilage sorted out, Clare riesling could enter the new millennium with a coherent identity and style – varietally true, bracingly taut with acidity, and guaranteed fresh.
Clare-based winemaker Kerri Thompson, who moved to the region in 1998, argues that the introduction of Stelvin closures was, in her words, “really the defining moment” for the region’s style of riesling. Looking back at the late ’90s, she sees that the region “had certainly been set up on a path towards that classic Clare Valley style that we know and love now,” but that the introduction of Stelvin closures catalysed the region: “It was such an important step that the region really took on as a unified force,” she says. For Thompson, who makes wine for both Skillogalee Estate and her own label, Wines by KT, the region’s specific Reisling style derives from its unique climate and geology: “The Clare Valley is a really unique grape growing area, because we are a northern grape growing area in South Australia, but we also have great elevation,” she says. “So we have warm days and cool nights. The warm days allow us to ripen our fruit, obviously, with lovely fruit flavour – but the elevation and the cool nights allow us to retain all of that beautiful natural acidity … there’s no doubt that the seasonal conditions and climatic conditions support that style.” She adds: “That’s coupled with the fact that it’s really ancient geology. We grow our grapes on sedimentary rock here, so there’s a lot of quite diverse soil types – but when you’re looking at really rocky terrain with riesling, it’s a beautiful partnership.”
While some may argue that the stylistic consistency of the average Clare riesling is a weakness, Thompson believes it’s one of the region’s strengths – as it means that quality viticulture and terroir differences are not obscured by winemaking artifice. “We’re seeing a number of different wineries that are really focusing on those special blocks within their estate,” she says. “And certainly that’s been the approach for us here at Skillogalee – really identifying the blocks that are going to consistently produce high quality. And for my own business, Wines by KT, it’s very much been about always working with those wine growers that are happy to go the extra mile and really work on on their special part of the world to produce the best quality fruit they can.” This is a process that starts with understanding sub-regional differences: “The Watervale subregion tends to have a higher degree of red loam over limestone, while the Polish Hill River generally has a high degree of schist and slate soil,” she says. “Because of those soil difference, Watervale tends to display a sort of rounder, richer fruit sweetness, whereas Polish Hill River tends to be a little more delicate and tightly-coiled – if I was to generalise.” Those differences translate not only to taste, but also to cost, owing to the reduced yields that riesling achieves on unforgiving slate soils. “It’s a similar situation out here at Skillogalee, with the Skillogalee dolomite, which is also quite a shallow rocky ground. So it’s wonderful for Riesling flavour and structure, but not necessarily for producing significant crops.”
“The warm days allow us to ripen our fruit, obviously, with lovely fruit flavour – but the elevation and the cool nights allow us to retain all of that beautiful natural acidity.”
While prices for single-site Clare rieslings place the best examples firmly in the realm of ‘fine wine’, Thompson emphasises that the region as a whole offers exceptional value for money. “To be able to purchase wines of that quality level – and cellaring potential as well – at that price point is almost unheard of around the world. It’s such a good buy,” Thompson says. The fact that bottle variation has been practically eliminated makes the wines especially suited to development in the cellar – and you don’t have to have purchased years ago to take advantage of this fact. “Not everyone gets to taste older rieslings, but often producers have some older vintage rieslings available for sale as well,” she says. “So that’s a really lovely opportunity to take up, and still very reasonably priced – a nice thing to be filling your cellar with.”
With such a close connection between region, variety, and winemaking style, Clare riesling can seem, to outsiders, as somewhat same-y – but for Kerri Thompson, that’s far from true. “I’ve certainly never felt that I’ve been confined to that classic style,” she says. “I’ve always experimented, and have made a career around celebrating the diversity of riesling. So it’s always been important to my winemaking and wine releases here in the Clare Valley to showcase a number of different styles of riesling – when it comes to wines by KT, anyway.” (She sees her role at Skillogalee, which has established itself as one of the region’s stalwarts, as somewhat more custodial.) She adds: “Obviously there’s market pressure for some of the bigger companies to continue in a consistent fashion, but our climate allows us to do that. I suppose it’s just where it’s naturally fallen.”
“I’ve certainly never felt that I’ve been confined to that classic Clare style. I’ve always experimented, and have made a career around celebrating the diversity of riesling.”
Likewise, Jeffrey Grosset rejects the accusation that the region’s style can be a restraint on creativity. “Often Clare riesling is talked about as being homogeneous,” he says. “Whereas I see the lower price-point, higher-acid – or more noticeably acidic, because they’re leaner – as being one style, and the more generous, more fine, and more linear as another. Then you’ve got the riper, lees-worked and barrel-worked style, where people are adding texture or character to the wine.” While he confesses that he believes the more generous, yet still bone-dry style to be the best for the region’s fruit, he adds: “I think it’s wonderful that this diversity is happening, because it adds interest to people beyond the one style – that higher-acid, refreshing style, almost an aperitif. These others can be very interesting – but they can also miss.” For his own part, he focuses on judicious use of winemaking techniques outside of the region’s norms when the character and quality of fruit from certain vineyard parcels can support it – whether that’s a small touch of residual sugar in his ‘Alea’, or extended time on lees in the case of his ‘G110’ riesling (made from a single clone of the variety, from a few rows planted on a single soil profile). He adds a frustration that, in the case of riesling, the level of public discourse seems to focus mostly on style or the question of residual sugar levels: “Riesling and pinot, to me, are the brother and sister in terms of expression of where they’re grown,” he says. “People who talk about pinot, the two things they’ll talk about is where it’s from – ‘single site is really the only way to go,’ blah blah blah – and clones. And with riesling, people don’t really talk about either. They certainly never talk about clones. That just shows the difference in approach and appreciation by wine people.”
“People who talk about pinot, the two things they’ll talk about is where it’s from – ‘single site is really the only way to go,’ blah blah blah – and clones. And with riesling, people don’t really talk about either.”
For her own part, Julie Barry now makes wines for her own label, Good Catholic Girl, that she sees as distinct from the style that her father popularised with his Watervale riesling – more weighty and textural. “It’s not a wishy-washy riesling,” she says of her ‘Teresa’ riesling – titled after her mother’s middle name, and sourced from a vineyard her mother planted with her father. “I describe her as a ‘big fine girl’.” (Julie once also applied this description to a wine made by Ben Jeanneret, with whom she shares a winery space – with her blessing, the phrase is now the name of that cuvée.) Her description of the wine can really act as a précis for everything there is to love about the best of Clare riesling: “You know, a ‘big fine girl’ might not be at her best when she’s young – but with maturity, she probably almost reaches perfection. But she’s not easy. She’s not simple. She’ll never change – her substance is there, but she might become a bit more refined, a bit more interesting. And she’ll never get boring – she’ll never be dull.”
Our panel: Belinda Thomson, chief winemaker and viticulturist, Crawford River Wines; John Nagorcka, co-owner and chief winemaker, Hochkirch; Hayley Williamson, owner and wine buyer, Nina’s Bar & Restaurant; Sam Baxter, sommelier, Geralds Bar; Sophie O’Kane, head sommelier and venue manager, Julie Restaurant; Hayley Farquar, wine merchant, City Wine Shop and The European.
Thomson commenced proceedings by noting that the theme of the tasting, for her, was balance. “Regardless of quality, balance was a real highlight in this particular tasting, I think,” she said. “I haven’t seen this many Clare rieslings in a line-up for a long time – but I also haven’t seen this many balanced Clare rieslings in a line-up for a long time, either, where the acid is in check.” For her, this consistency of balance didn’t make it more difficult to pick favourites, but rather spoke highly of the quality of winemaking and viticulture in the region: “It doesn’t matter whether you like it or not, whether it’s complex or not, whether it’s long or not – the acid just doesn’t come through and give you a great big smack in the face,” she said. “There were a couple where that happened, but they were definitely the outliers rather the norm, I thought.”
Baxter concurred, and added that, for him, the consistency of balance allowed for more layers of flavour and fruit character to show in the wines than he was expecting. “I found that there was far more complexity and depth of flavour as a result,” he said. “There were quite a few rieslings that were hitting all different kinds of primary fruit flavours – you always expect the citrus and the lemon zest, but some of these showed underripe tropical fruit characters, like green pineapple, green mango, and green guava. There was a lot of florals. And some white orchard fruits and white stone fruits.” He added that the tasting was eye-opening as a sommelier, because it gave him space to reexamine a category of wines that he’d previously thought of as relatively homogeneous: “There were a lot of depths that you don’t often really get to see – especially when you’re in service and you’re tasting a million different wines,” he said. “You just go, ‘Cool, there’s the lemon zest, it’s sound – let’s keep going.’ It’s nice to see that there’s so much depth and there’s so much diversity of flavour.”
“I haven’t seen this many Clare rieslings in a line-up for a long time – but I also haven’t seen this many balanced Clare rieslings in a line-up for a long time, either, where the acid is in check.”
Like Baxter, Williamson found that the wines were surprising in their nuance – something she attributed to more diversity in winemaking style, especially when it came to the topic of lees contact. “I found quite a bit of leesy character in a lot of the wines,” she said. “Maybe people are leaning away from just straight-up stainless steel making.” (Thomson added a “Thank God!”)
For Nagorcka, the wines that stood out showcased some phenolic character – a result of either leaving the juice on skins briefly before fermentation, or blending in some of the heavier press fractions. “There were a few wines in that line-up where the producers were bold enough to get a bit of extract – and those are the ones that I scored well,” he said. “Which is just to say that’s my preference. I think if you want to taste terroir, you’ve got to have phenolics – and if you don’t have phenolics, you don’t taste terroir. And you can apply that to just about any wine, any variety.” While he was impressed by the overall quality, he found a certain stylistic homogeneity to many of the wines in the line-up: “I grouped a lot of wines in one corner, as having very little between them. There’s a couple that were actually quite poor – and then there’s a whole bunch of wines that are technically correct, but there’s not much to be said about them. And then there’s a couple of wines that stood out at the other end – and just about all of those wines that I’ve scored have got a slight phenolic bitterness, and a minerality.”
“Everyone was saying, ‘Oh, no, phenolics – they’re bitter and awful!’. Well, yeah: shitty phenolics from shitty fruit can be a bit like that.”
Nagorcka added that while ultra-light and squeaky-clean riesling is now the norm in Australia and in Germany, it wasn’t always the case: “I think the German wine industry and the Australian wine industry went up totally the wrong path by trying to make riesling wines with no phenolics,” he said. “It was a mistake. It wasn’t carrying on a historical precedent – it was something that was very new and something that appeared with the development of winemaking technology.” He argued that the fear of phenolic content was intrinsically linked to viticulture: “Everyone was saying, ‘Oh, no, phenolics – they’re bitter and awful!’,” he said. “Well, yeah: shitty phenolics from shitty fruit can be a bit like that. And underripe fruit too, of course – then you get that nasty bitterness. But grow better fruit – and then you can have some noble phenolics to play with that will end up giving you a way better result.”
Talk of German riesling brought up the subject of residual sugar. Thomson argued that the Clare’s general aversion to residual sugar in riesling was something of an overcorrection: “There was a time when there was so much volume of lesser-quality sweet German riesling, both in Germany and coming into Australia, that consumers suddenly backed up,” she said. “They were like, ‘We don’t want this sweet stuff.’ So winemakers here – before it also happened in Germany – decided to separate themselves by making these super-steely, austere, super-fucking-bone-dry wines. Sometimes they were really good; sometimes they were slightly terrifying. But they did it to separate themselves from that sweet German hock.”
“Clare Valley’s personality was this very austere, very high-acid, riesling. So instead of focussing on terroir, the idea was, ‘Let’s just make our wines recognisable through this stylistic difference’.”
Farquar argued that the development of the Clare style was also a process of regional differentiation, which could be seen as a form of marketing. “Previously there was this push – especially in the Australian wine industry, and especially in the South Australian wine industry – in the era of Parker Points, for regions to have defined personalities,” she said. “So the Barossa, the Clare, the Eden, all had to have distinct personalities. And Clare Valley’s personality was this very austere, very high-acid, riesling. So instead of focussing on terroir, the idea was, ‘Let’s just make our wines recognisable through this stylistic difference’.” She saw a welcome change in priorities in the day’s line-up: “There’s this push now to show individuality through winemaking, and through expression of place, rather than an expected expression of style from the region,” she said. “It’s nice that we’ve come through that period and we see in the line-up some winemakers trying out more lees, more oak, a bit of residual sugar.”
For O’Kane, the day’s tasting highlighted a gap between what winemakers in the Clare are currently producing and what many wine drinkers intuitively feel about riesling. “Riesling is one of those varieties that consumers have a very specific idea about, rightly or wrongly,” she said. “It’s a bit like sauvignon blanc – or that classic line, ‘I don’t drink chardonnay, but I love a Chablis.’ My experience is that they either think riesling is all sweet – that hangover from the old style of German wines – or they think it’s all the opposite – incredibly austere, almost cloyingly acidic wine from South Australia.” For her, those misconceptions required gentle handling: “There can be a lot of misconceptions about what is actually going on, or what they’re actually talking about,” she said. “Which can sometimes make it hard to talk to consumers because you don’t want to come across as patronising. We’re not going to win over more consumers to fine wine if we’re judgemental, et cetera. I guess where I can see our role as the interface between winemakers and guests in restaurants or retail consumers is being able to understand that history and the context, and then also being able to pick out the wines that stand aside from the pack. Like, ‘Well, you might have this preconceived notion of what Clare riesling is, but here’s a different example – let me slowly change your mind’.”
Belinda Thomson is the chief winemaker and viticulturist at Crawford River Wines in Henty, Victoria. After studying viticulture and oenology in New Zealand in 2002 and staying on there to work for several years, she returned to work with her father at Crawford River in 2005. A hunger for knowledge together with a passion for family led her to combine responsibilities at Crawford River with extensive international experience across a range of countries including France, Germany and Spain, before returning full time to her family estate in 2014. In 2020 she was a finalist in the Gourmet Traveller Winemaker of the Year awards. In the same year her viticultural work and stewardship of Crawford River’s vineyard saw it shortlisted for the Young Gun of Wine Vineyard of the Year Award.
John Nagorcka is a fourth-generation farmer and founder of Hochkirch in Henty, Victoria. After a couple of years working with his father after secondary school he continued study and had an off-farm career before eventually returning to the family farm. In 1990, seeking more control over income than commodity production offered, he started establishing a vineyard, and completing planting twenty acres by 1997. During this time he studied wine science at Charles Sturt University. Since then, Hochkirch’s viticulture and winemaking have become heavily influenced by traditional European practice – an influence that was finessed by the incorporation of the biodynamic method (Demeter-certified) since 1999 under the tutelage of Alex Podolinsky. Two of his children, Christian and Gretel, are now also involved in the enterprise.
Hayley Williamson is the co-owner of and wine buyer for Nina’s Bar & Restaurant, Brunswick. She has been in the hospitality industry for over two decades, starting as a bartender and then – after tasting a Remi Jobard Meursault in 2015 that opened her eyes to the world of fine wine – working her way up to becoming a sommelier at some of Sydney and Melbourne’s best restaurants, including Cirrus Dining in Sydney and Bar Romanée and Nomad in Melbourne. In 2023 she decided to take the leap away from working for someone else and now co-owns Nina’s Bar & Dining in Brunswick. In just under two years, it has become a thriving part of the local community – celebrated for its welcoming atmosphere, thoughtful food and wine, and genuine hospitality. Here she run everything front of house – including curating all the beverages!
It’s no wonder that Sam Baxter fell into the sommelier lifestyle – between his childhood spent in WA’s Swan Valley and his priestly grandfathers secretly passing him sips of Port, it was a done deal. He found his love for wine working at a wine merchant in the UK, and once back in Perth decided to pursue a career in wine. Since moving to Melbourne, he has become a familiar face to the CBD’s diners, popping bottles at Hazel, Coda, Rockpool and Maha. In November 2025 he helped reopen Geralds Bar at its new Lygon St home, where he works as a sommelier within its new restaurant space, Parlour by Geralds Bar, slinging booze and serving cheese.
Sophie O’Kane currently works as the head sommelier and venue manager for Julie Restaurant in Abbotsford, Melbourne.
Hayley Farquar currently works as a bar supervisor and wine merchant at City Wine Shop and The European. She possesses an Introductory Sommelier Certificate from the Court of Master Sommeliers, and is currently working towards her Level 3 Award in Wines from the Wine and Spirits Education Trust.
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