Australia may be the last place on earth that most American fans of bone-dry riesling would think of looking for these wines. And this is perfectly understandable, considering that we’ve been marinating in rich, lavishly fruity shiraz for the last decade. Those wines are the polar opposite of steely, mineral-driven riesling, which requires a cool, marginal climate to help it retain acidity and verve.
Most Americans wine lovers think that the entire Australian continent is one sprawling, sunburnt outback, but that’s simply not the case. Some of Australia’s best wines, both red and white, come from the coolest areas of Victoria: many of that state’s vineyards lie within sight of the Southern Ocean while others are at altitudes similar to the highest sites in Europe. There are also cool, virtually ocean-side vineyards across Western Australia that are ideal spots for making wines that are more about soil character than merely fruit.
Cool-climate varieties like pinot noir, chardonnay and riesling thrive in such places while shiraz would never attain full ripeness, but until recently these wines, especially the rieslings, have mostly flown under the radar of most American winos. Australia’s winegrowers have mostly resisted the temptation to produce rieslings that emphasize power and richness, unlike many of their European counterparts, instead favoring a nervy, citrus fruit-dominated style that has become increasingly hard to find from Alsace, for example.
Fans of Germany’s dry, or trocken, wines owe it to themselves to seek out Australia’s top rieslings because they can deliver a similarly spicy, minerally, incisive character that’s almost impossible to find in any other wine region in the world. With rare exception these rieslings also represent excellent value, especially when compared to the best dry rieslings of Germany and Austria. Aside from the highly sought, collectible rieslings of producers like Grosset it is almost impossible to spend more than $25 for a bottle of dry Australian riesling. Most come in for under $20, making them real bargains for lovers of stony, tangy white wine.
I taste through a wide range of Australia’s rieslings every spring while sampling a thousand or more new releases of all types for my extensive annual coverage of Australian wine in the International Wine Cellar (see the just-posted new issue), and this year a number of wines stood out for both quality and value. The Clare Valley is the most renowned source for these wines, but has prices to match. So most of my choices represent more affordable but very satisfying alternatives. All of these wines, by the way, should age gracefully in bottle for five to ten years, if not longer.
For sheer value I was impressed by the 2009 Killikanoon Wines Riesling Mort’s Block Watervale Clare Valley ($20; Old Bridge Cellars), which strongly displays this highly regarded region’s classic citrus and mineral qualities and is complex enough to give pleasure now. Another winner at an attractive price is the 2009 Mesh Riesling Eden Valley ($20; Negociants, USA), made under the watch of Jeffrey Grosset, who is by nearly unanimous acclaim the most talented riesling producer in Australia. His own estate wines are among the most ageworthy of all Australian whites and sell for anywhere from the mid $30s to almost $50, which makes this racy, tightly wound, mineral-dominated wine a real buy and a great introduction to the Grosset style.
Those who are willing to part with a bit more money should look for the wines of Frankland Estate, which has long been one of the leading riesling producers in Western Australia. The Smith-Cullam family produces three single-vineyard bottlings, each playing on a slightly different theme of racy, mineral-laced citrus fruits. The 2009 Riesling Cooladerra Vineyard Frankland River ($28; The Australian Premium Wine Collection) is the raciest of this year’s releases, displaying intense, almost chalky minerality and excellent precision, while the 2009 Riesling Poison Hill Vineyard Frankland River ($28) offers a similar profile but with added depth and a richer orchard fruit element.
If you’re patient and have the inclination to stash some bottles away for a few years, then the 2009 Riesling Isolation Ridge Vineyard Frankland River ($30), from the oldest planting on the estate, is even more densely packed but also racy and precise, with aging potential of at least another seven years, probably longer. The family has recently established an entry-level brand, Rocky Gully, with the intent to showcase the house style at a gentler price. The 2009 Riesling Frankland River ($15) under this label is a flat-out great value, offering strong citrus flavors and impressive tensile strength and energy, with depth that’s rare at this price point.
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