Wine Review: A 'Freaking Good' Clare Valley Riesling

Fresh from nabbing the ‘Winemakers Choice’ at the Young Guns of Wine Awards, John Hughes just scooped the Royal Sydney Wine Show, picking up five trophies including Best Wine of Show and the impressive Tucker Seabrook Trophy, which is given to the best wine entered from the seven major capital-city wine shows held over the past year.

Hughes only does one thing and he does it well: Riesling. Now I’ve gibbered on about how Riesling is Australia’s most undervalued wine style for yonks, and as one of the lab-coat wearing judges at the Royal Sydney Wine Show, I must say, I was pretty stoked to see this particular wine get the kudos it deserved when the awards night came around.

It is a wine of head- spinning fruit purity and clarity. There are beautiful lime and citrus fruit characters on display here with just a touch of dried honey and light Christmas lily and jasmine floral notes.

In the mouth it is crystalline. Nervy with a bright line and pitch-perfect tension between fruit and acidity, it shows laser-like focus as it shoots across the palate. A slight phenolic twist on the finish also adds a textural component that is spot on. Delicious now but has the diamonds to age gracefully, building complexity as it does so (if you can keep your hands off it, that is). Freaking good.

RIESLINGFREAK 2017 No. 3 Clare Valley Riesling