Pikes Merle Riesling 2026
- 96
- $65
- Drink by: 2026-2046
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This is the team’s prestige Riesling, named after the founding brothers’ mother, the matriarch of the Pike family. A lovely lady, she is thoroughly deserving of such a fine tribute. The grapes are sourced from Estate vineyards in the Polish Hill River region, two blocks which they feel provide the purest expression of that sub-region. 100% free run juice and four months on lees after fermentation. Trout stream clear, with the merest hint of pale lemon, what is immediately apparent is the intensity of an array of flavours evident on the nose, but more than that, this is a wine of refinement, precision and elegance. We have hints of bath salts, lychees, talc, citrus, limes and grapefruit. Still very young, but it is focused and linear and impressively long. Fine acidity helps give the wine energy and the finish lingers. If one wanted to be ultra-picky, perhaps the intensity on the finish is not quite a match for the very best Merles, but by any standard, this is an exceptional line. Enjoy it over the next twenty years, during which period It will continue to improve.
Ken was born and bred in Brisbane, Queensland. He had a non-trendy, perfectly happy childhood, in a family convinced alcohol meant instant condemnation to Hades. But a break fishing on the Great Barrier Reef, and some good wine, started a serious obsession that eventually took over. It did not stop Ken being chastised later for drinking Pol champagne, disgusted he’d drink anything made by a Cambodian dictator. Now, Ken mostly writes on wine, champagne and spirits for various newspapers, magazines and books, but is perhaps best known for his work in The Courier Mail. He also has a little sideline writing on cigars, fishing, travel and food. When not writing, fly-fishing for trout in NZ or bonefish on the flats of Cuba, travelling or smoking cigars, he is no doubt following a variety of sporting teams – the occasionally glorious Queensland Reds rugby, the dysfunctional Washington Redskins, the dodgy Arsenal and especially revels in the world restored to its proper axis with the return of the Ashes to their rightful home.
