Pikes Wines Traditionale Riesling Clare Valley 2021
- 95
- $26
- Drink by: 2021-2036
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“Deep and meaningful.”
Not too often you get to write that down as a first impression of a wine, let alone the first impression of a very young, Clare Valley riesling.
But out it came in my notes, together with “so balanced and accomplished,” and “comes fully formed with depth of fruit flavour.”
These kind of tasting notes indicated something special. But the wine was soooo very young. I consulted the internet for details on the 2021 vintage in Clare Valley. Words like “classic” and “perfect ripening conditions” kept popping up.
It was all making sense.
A fab Clare vintage produces fab riesling, and Pikes has produced a belter.
Citrus descriptors got a big workout with this wine from lemon drop and zest to lime cordial and grapefruit pith.
They gathered on the bouquet, all lively and fresh. They worked with the wine’s acidity to provide real tension – that vibrancy we love to see in riesling – and juiciness, mouth-wateringly, so.
But what I really loved about this wine was the fact that while you could see a long life ahead – as indeed classic Clare rieslings tend to enjoy – it was fully formed now and raring to go.
You don’t normally see that in a riesling quite so young.
It’s a star turn, all right.
Jeni Port is one of Australia’s top wine communicators. Based in Melbourne, Jeni created the first wine column in the (then) Sun News-Pictorial before moving over to The Age and becoming that paper’s longest-serving wine writer. Over the years she has written for most Australian wine magazines and these days calls WinePilot home. She is also a Tasting Panel member on the Halliday Wine Companion. She was named Wine Communicator of the Year and Legend of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival in 2014 and in 2018 Legend of the Vine. She is a founding board member of Australian Women In Wine and is the co-deputy chair of Australia’s Wine List of the Year Awards and China’s Wine List of the Year Awards.
