Southern Class: Australian Riesling

It’s fruity but pure, regional but approachable, and works equally well with food or alone. So, says Sarah Ahmed, shouldn’t we all, from pubs to Pétrus, be stocking up on Aussie Riesling?

To borrow from another Australian classic, Riesling from Down Under is ‘driza-bone’. Its signature dryness and purity of line make perfect sense where there is no need to offset acidity with sugar, residual or otherwise.

Unlike German Riesling, ripe, clean fruit is a given, thanks to a sunnier, drier and relatively disease-free environment. With ultra-protective winemaking and early bottling under screwcap, Australian Riesling offers an unparalleled clarity of mouth-watering fruit, typically in a vibrant citrus spectrum.

Promised land

But happily for lovers of terroir and character, Aussie Riesling is not all about fruit. Scratch beneath the surface and, like its European counterparts, Australian Riesling has a postcode, with styles ranging from flavoursome and fruity (with more palate weight than European bone-dry styles) to delicate and floral, depending on climatic influences such as elevation, latitude and maritime effects (see regional Riesling box).

It also ages beautifully, maintaining structure while building weight and complexity with savoury notes tinged with sweetness, especially toast, lemon/lime shred and honey. For those unable to age stock, bottle-aged and ready-to-go museum-release Rieslings, such as Peter Lehmann’s Reserve Riesling, Pewsey Vale The Contours and Wakefield’s St Andrews can add value and interest to any list.
And if you need convincing about the impact of soil type, look no further than Riesling supremo Jeffrey Grosset’s groundbreaking sub-regional Clare Valley Polish Hill and Watervale Rieslings, which epitomise terroir in a glass. Polish Hill’s ‘hard rock’ shale and slate soils produce a particularly tight-knit, mineral wine, while Watervale’s red loam over ‘soft rock’ limestone yields greater generosity of fruit with expressive floral and talc notes.

As Grosset puts it, ‘They’re such a transparent example of terroir because Riesling represents winemaking in its purest form, with no oak, extended lees contact or malolactic fermentation.’
Forward-thinking UK restaurateurs are starting to pick up on the grape’s possibilities, too. Roger and Sue Jones, owners of Michelin-starred restaurant The Harrow at Little Bedwyn, and Riesling devotees, are delighted that Australian Riesling’s huge range of flavours and intensity has seen it (with a bit of help from them) overtake Sauvignon Blanc to become their best-selling white.

For the Joneses, it is the winning combination of dryness, fruit and terroir that makes the wines such a winner. They’re more versatile and have greater popular appeal than Old World Rieslings, and are enjoyable alone and also with a broader spectrum of food. With its focus on brighter, cleaner flavours, Aussie Riesling is also better suited to modern styles of cooking. In short, it’s hard to think of a box that these wines don’t tick.

The Joneses sell 20 six-bottle cases of Riesling each month − not bad for a restaurant with just 32 covers. As The Harrow case study shows (page XX), if you play your cards right − and the on-trade unquestionably has the whip hand when it comes to hand-selling − Australian Riesling has the potential to emerge as the thinking person’s Sauvignon Blanc.  

Young Adventurers

While 99% of Australian Rieslings are as linear, whistle clean and dry as they come, a younger generation of producers are experimenting with more textured styles using less protective winemaking, wild ferments, barrel fermentation and lees ageing. Like older Rieslings, these can work with weightier, more complex food.

Leading exponents of dry textured styles include Western Australia’s Forest Hill, Frankland Estate and Larry Cherubino, while Eden Valley in South Australia is a hotbed of experimentation by the likes of Tin Shed, Torzi Matthews and Radford Wines.

Sweet Treats

Inspired by increasing imports of European Rieslings, sweeter styles are another area of exploration which Victoria-based Mac Forbes says ‘have been popular with sommeliers looking for something more interesting and varied’. With more layers and residual sugar, he finds his Strathbogie Rieslings are being served with pork, terrines and slightly fatty dishes.

Kerri Thompson, meanwhile, says Adelaide restaurant Chianti Classico’s dégustation menu has shown that sweeter styles like her KT & The Falcon 2005 Riesling, which has 14g of residual sugar, also perform well with seafood in a creamy sauce. Mount Langi Ghiran’s Dan Buckle agrees that dégustation menus are a great way forward for sweeter styles such as his medium-dry Cliff Edge No. 2, adding ‘the low alcohol is well received in a lunch context’.

With new blood bringing even more excitement and interest to this versatile grape, Australian Riesling has all the ingredients to capitalise on the growth in ‘fresh and aromatic’ wines over ‘big and rich’ styles. Moreover, it has the versatility and sheer class to win over the Sauvignonites - once you get it into their glasses, it delivers, both for them and for you.

See below how Roger Jones makes the most of Riesling’s food friendly nature, while Orlando’s Veronica Zahra compares different vintages.

General tips

• Young Rieslings − bone-dry wines with whistle-clean fruit and crisp acidity are the perfect foil for spankingly fresh, unadorned shellfish; mineral styles are fabulous with oysters.
• Fruitier wines − great companions for fusion flavours. Watervale, Clare and the Barossa’s generous styles pick up and run with flavours such as ginger, kaffir lime and coriander. They also have the intensity to cope with chilli and refresh the palate.
• Older wines − savoury buttered toast, nut and subtly sweet characters work well with weightier, complex dishes, bringing fish, white meats, and cream and butter sauces into play, also cheese.

YER RIESLING REGIONS Clare Valley, SA Cooling sea breezes, elevation and plummeting night-time temperatures are a brilliant counterpoint to high sunshine hours and daytime temperatures during the growing season. The result is Australia’s most intense concentration of punchy lime and citrus aromas and flavours, balanced by razor-sharp acidity. Varied soils, elevations (200-550m) and aspects produce different expressions, the best known being Polish Hill and Watervale (see main text). With age, wines develop ginger, citrus peel, salted limes and toast. Leading producers: Grosset, Mitchell, Kilikanoon, Sevenhill, Mount Horrocks, Knappstein, Leo Buring. Eden Valley, SA Aromatic, mineral wines with a fine spine of acidity reflect lower temperatures and more sunshine hours than Clare, together with weathered, rocky vineyards up to 100 years old at elevations of 400-500m. The emphasis is on citrus blossom,	rose petal and lemon and lime, sometimes orchard fruits. With age, wines show lime cordial, lemon butter, honey and toast. Leading producers: Pewsey Vale, Peter Lehmann, Henschke, Grant Burge, Mountadam, Tin Shed, McLean’s Farm, St Hallett. Barossa Valley, SA Warmer than neighbouring Eden Valley, the Barossa floor makes more approachable, fruity wines with powder puff, lime peel, pulp and pith. An exception is Orlando’s densely planted, super-rocky Steingarten vineyard at 460m. Leading producers: Orlando, Rockford, Peter Lehmann. Great Southern, WA A cool climate produces bone-dry, finely honed floral wines with a steely spectrum of apple and citrus flavours, including grapefruit. With knife-edged acidity, wines benefit from a year or so in bottle. With age, they show toast, honey, tangerine and peach. Mineral expressions hail from the Porongurups at 400m and Mount Barker (300m), while maritime Denmark and Albany produce floral wines with zippy acidity. Further inland, Frankland River’s pronounced diurnal temperature variation yields more fruit weight. Leading producers: Frankland Estate, Howard Park, Castle Rock, Forest Hill, Ferngrove, Alkoomi, Plantagenet.	The Grampians, Victoria Catabatic winds provide nightly air conditioning, lowering overall temperatures and extending the growing season, giving balanced wines with intense varietal character. Rieslings show lifted blossom with fine citrus and apple aromas and flavours and a mineral undertow. Less obviously acid driven than South Australian counterparts. Leading producers: Mount Langi Ghiran, Best’s, Kimbarra Wines. Tasmania A long, cool growing season produces intense aromatics, well-defined fruit (apple and citrus) with thirst-quenching acidity, sometimes balanced with residual sugar. Leading producers: Tamar Ridge, Moorilla Estate, Freycinet, Bay of Fires.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No – it’s Rieserman!

Self-proclaimed lover of Aussie Riesling, Roger Jones of The Harrow at Little Bedwyn, shares his tips on how to chase the likes of Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Grigio out of Gotham City:

Champion Riesling and inspire customers with confidence (The Harrow lists 28 Rieslings from 21 producers, together with eight dessert Rieslings).

Tempt customers by the glass (this lies at the heart of The Harrow’s success) with at least two Rieslings always listed by the glass.

Never call wines ‘house wines’ – all wines are great examples of their type.

For wines by the glass, use smaller glasses to encourage experimentation and trading up − The Harrow’s biggest glass size is 125ml.

If storage space permits, splash out a bit on stemware − The Harrow uses a range of Riedel glasses: Riesling/Sauvignon Blanc for basic wines, Tyrol for steely, young premium Rieslings and Vinum Extreme or Sommelier for older wines. Wines are generally served at around 10°C.

Juxtapose a young wine with a museum release to encourage trading up – a strategy which works well for The Harrow with Pewsey Vale and museum release Pewsey Vale The Contours.

Tailor food to the wine, not the other way around – wines are shown to best advantage by focusing on clean flavours, avoiding butter and cream.

Lead the food and wine matching − the set lunch menu ‘free’ glass of white wine is a Riesling.

The ‘try and buy’ strategy extends to retail sales – The Harrow set-lunch menu wines are offered by the case, guaranteed the cheapest price in the UK.

RIESLING, RIESLING EVERYWHERE...

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