Rieslings from 2012

I have been impressed with eight Rieslings from the 2012 vintage I recently tasted. There were quite significant differences between the wines, though.

The 2012 Larry Cherubino Ad Hoc Wallflower and the 2012 O'Leary Walker Polish Hill showed less fruit  and volume than the other Rieslings. They were both quite dry and not as linear as I would have liked. However, both wines would be good summer lunch drinking ( 89 and 88 points).

The 2012 Clos Clare Riesling from the famous Florita vineyard and the 2012 Grosset Springvale Riesling are  more floral than the first two wines. Both are based on citrus, but softer wines. I found the Grosset a bit fruity, but showing great purity (92 and 92 points). The KT Peglidis, also from Watervale, was tighter with a strong fruit core (92 points).

The 2012 Henschke Julius Riesling from Eden Valley had almost no colour. A light wine with quite an acidic aftertaste (90 points).

The 2012 Grosset Polish Hill is indeed a special wine, as a number of reviewers have pointed out. The citrus flavours are very clean, linear and focussed. The wine has incredible length for a Riesling. It drinks well now, but I would suggest to drink half of a case in one year, as a young wine, and half starting in 8-10 years (96 points).

An interesting wine is the 2012 Grosset Alea Off Dry. This wine is broader, with a complex flavour spectrum from citrus to orange peel. The wine is not sweet by any means and has a long finish. This is a very interesting wine, different from the 'dry Australian' mould, but not 'sweet Germanic' either (93 points).