Wine Review: Mesh's 'ripper' Classic Release Riesling

We wine hacks spend silly amounts of time with our noses shoved into posh stemware and we are constantly harping on about how Riesling is one of the most undervalued grape varieties: mouthwateringly gluggable in its youth and gaining complexity with a few years under its belt, the proof is in the pudding.

Mesh is a collaboration between Jeffrey Grosset and Yalumba’s Robert Hill Smith. If you were starting a Riesling supergroup, that’s your rhythm section right there: two of Australia’s finest exponents of the variety from the Clare Valley and Eden Valley respectively.

The two work together in the lead-up to vintage before picking their chosen grapes and heading off to their individual wineries to crush and ferment their chosen parcels. The final wines are assessed and a blend is assembled, the melding of two great Riesling minds into one.

The resulting wine is a ripper and we’re lucky they’ve held some back in their cellars for this classic release. Those endearing characters of a carefully cellared Riesling are starting to flow with aromas of citrus fruits, lemongrass, lemon curd, dried honey, toasted brioche and orange blossom apparent on the nose and palate. The wine ends with a sapid flourish of toasty grapefruit and the conclusion lingers beautifully with a fine elegant line.

MESH 2012 Classic Release Eden Valley Riesling

meshwine.com