2023 Grosset, Springvale Riesling, Clare Valley, Australia

Made from a six-hectare block of Riesling in Watervale, planted in 2000 on ‘thin topsoil made up of red loam over limestone, and, atypical for this subregion, slate bedrock’.

A riot of fresh fruit aromas – juicy green apples, snappy green grapes, some heady quince – lead onto Springvale’s usual eager-to-please lime-juicy richness, finishing with mouth-watering acidity – perhaps tighter and more pronounced than in previous, warmer vintages, but in lovely balance with the rest of the wine.

Drink 2023-2038

Reticent of aroma, yet the coil of acidity underpinning this wine is juicy rather than hard as I have often found it in the past. A workout in the glass reveals green apple, Asian pear, anise, spa salts and chalky pungency. The ripeness is on point. Properly mid-weighted, forceful of extract and dutifully long. This will age well across the mid-term, as its track record attests. From biodynamically grown grapes. Drink or hold. Screw cap.