Leasingham Classic Clare Watervale Riesling 2017

Grapefruit halves, sprinkles of fine sugar and white Frangipani. It’s filled with the perfume of summer nights, seaspray, coconut oil remnants and star jasmine. A hint of lemon butter on toast. Acidity dances and sways, it is well integrated into the mesh like quality of phenolics and yoghurt like creaminess. Some quartz and chalk dust, this is only beginning to show its strengths and finite freshness. A touch of raw hazelnut on the finish. Worth opening a bottle now to sample its vitality, then putting the other 11 bottles down for the long haul, say 10-12 years further. Try this with creamy white polenta stirred with pecorino and some roast cauliflower florets.

Shanteh Wale

Contributor at Wine Companion

Shanteh cut her teeth at Sydney’s Award-Winning Quay restaurant where she worked for over a decade and was Head Sommelier from 2018 till 2022. She has been nominated for the Good Food Guide Sommelier of the Year award on three occasions and claims that her experience as a Len Evans scholar as one of the highlights of her career. Shanteh hosts her own weekly podcast ‘Over A Glass’ with the Deep in the Weeds Network and spends her time writing for various publications and judging at numerous wine shows across the country.

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