Traditionally, Australian riesling was known for its sharp citrus profile, and tooth-aching acidity, primarily sourced from Clare and Eden Valley. This style, defined by its intense mouth-puckering dryness, garnered international acclaim, leading to a peak in popularity. However, the riesling landscape has evolved, with contemporary producers experimenting with winemaking techniques to present diverse expressions of the grape. With this shift comes also a broader regional representation of the best riesling examples in Australia today.
One major challenge for riesling has been overcoming the lingering association with cheap, sweet imports from the past. Despite this, the grape’s ability to express terroir through its transparent yet flavourful profile is being rediscovered. From bone-dry to luscious sweet wines, from skin contact to pét-nats, riesling offers remarkable versatility and character when grown in suitable conditions.
Winemakers in the 2024 YGOW Awards Top 50 include Worlds Apart Wines, Werkstatt, Kenny Wine, Mountadam Vineyards, Chalari, Mac Forbes Wines and Meredith. Wines from these producers are a signal to Australia’s modern riesling renaissance, bringing exciting takes on a classic variety, where a sense of ‘texture’ from riesling in the glass is perhaps the new common theme.
Lovely balanced and precise aromas of lemon, lemon blossom, lime skin, crushed green apple, a glimmer of cinnamon, jasmine and wet river stone. Pretty, pure and precise. Great intensity on the palate, which has a glow of residual sugar bringing weight and viscosity. Green apple, honeydew melon, lemon juice, lime pith and white florals. Lively and pithy acid draws the palate into a puckery, minerally close.
Green florals, ripe lime, makrut lime leaf, and lemon blossom straight off, underpinned by a saline mineral note. Lovely fresh and hightoned appeal aromatically. There’s an attractive hit of sugar to the palate which is pulled into linear focus by a taut citrus derived fruit profile. Lime juice, lime pith, white lily, and green apple. The residual sugar is guillotined by a firm line of acidity, leading to a balanced and fresh citrus-lled close.
Pure and lifted aromas of lime, jasmine, lemon, subtle quince, and green apple on the nose. This is classic Eden Valley Riesling, packed with citrus and floral freshness. There’s crystalline fruit to the palate – lime, makrut lime leaf, jasmine and lemon dance through the mouth before a pithy and bracing acid line takes control pulling it long through the palate.
Red apple, lemon, kumquat, and cinnamon first up, followed by more subtle honeydew melon and lime. Excellent balance, lift and complexity here. Lovely glow of residual sugar to the palate, bringing a lovely viscous texture around melon, apple, lemon, and kumquat. Waves of bright acidity roll through the palate, guillotining the fruit and bringing tension and length to a fresh citrus-infused close.
Ripe lime, meyer lemon, sea spray, and green apple make way for melon and elderflower. There’s a good hit of residual sugar on the palate, bringing a nice glow of viscous texture. Lemon blossom, melon, lime skin, and lemon are supported by a saline, briney element. A good lick of pithy acidity and firm phenolics pull the sugar and fruit into line for a long, citrus and melon-drenched finish.
Delicate aromas of green apple, lemon blossom, and jasmine lift from the glass. There’s a prettiness here that draws you in. The palate is balanced and intense, with bursts of lemon, lime pith, green apple, and a glimmer of kumquat. A brisk acid line washes through the palate along with some nice phenolic edge to bring to a long and fresh citrusy close.
Meyer lemon, lime juice, finger lime, and jasmine leap out of the glass. This is followed by wet stone, subtle kumquat and lemon rind. This is all about fresh citrus lift and brightness. There’s a good lick of residual sugar on the palate bringing glow and viscosity. Honeydew melon, ripe lemon, wet stone and fresh lime juice pulled into linearity by racy, pithy acidity and phenolics.
In this fourth instalment of a seven-part series produced in collaboration with Vintage Cellars – 70 years of supporting wine in Australia – we look at Australian wine in the 1980s, the vine pull scheme, the rise of small winemakers, the start of the chardonnay boom, and the cool climate regions that started to find their feet.
Shiraz is inarguably Australia’s key red variety, with a style built on fruit depth and concentration. The ‘brand shiraz’ monolith sparked a counter movement in the early 2000s that favoured elegance and perfume, and one that branded itself with the French name for the grape: syrah. Today, Australian syrah is a category in its own right, and an exciting one at that.
Shiraz has seen a dramatic revolution, from the increase in cooler climate plantings to makers pursuing styles from the spicily fragrant and elegant to the distinctly nouveau, with early consumption and a good chill all part of the modern picture, not to mention reviving the fading tradition of sparkling shiraz. The 2022 Young Gun of Wine Awards features Entropy, Bowerbird, Weathercraft, Cuvée-Co, Harrison, Kenny Wine, Scion and Paxton, whose wines tell this story.
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