Gundog Estate M Burton Riesling I

At first glance, there seems to be so much wrong with this wine. A Riesling in a Bordeaux bottle? 85 bucks for an Aussie Riesling? Riesling under cork? Oak and steel ferments and varying levels of solids in the fermentation? A multi-vintage Riesling? What is going on? But as we have encountered before, Matt Burton and the team at Gundog don’t just push the envelope, they have been known to rip it apart. The wine has been blended from four vintages – 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021. The vineyards are at Murrumbateman and Gundaroo near Canberra (the team also offer a very fine straight Gundaroo vintage Riesling, but in an off-dry style).

I really had no idea what to expect, but I should never have doubted. It is a cracking wine. The colour is a beautiful pale lemon. The wine is fresh, focused, lemony and already showing hints of early complexity, with some floral notes, especially jasmine, and vibrant acidity running the length. This is fractionally richer than some of the leaner examples from the Clare and Eden Valleys but nothing wrong with that. Decent length, though a fraction more would see it elevate itself to absolutely elite. No reason this won’t age magnificently for the next five to eight years, probably more. Utterly delicious and fans of good Riesling need this on their bucket list.