John and Belinda Hughes have devoted themselves to Riesling for decades. Their love is unwavering, and unlike many enthusiasts, the Hughes adore Riesling in all its forms. This enchantment is most apparent in their latest 2024 releases. These wines display a transparency of site, balance as precise as a tightrope walker, and a celebration of vintage conditions. In this vintage, John witnessed cheerful green vines from start to finish, marked by some of the highest acidity levels and driest wines ever produced at Rieslingfreak. Put simply, they have to be tasted to be believed.
Adding to the triumph of this vintage, the brand new Rieslingfreak cellar door was unveiled in July this year. It warmly welcomes enthusiasts and freaks of all kinds. The crystalline white barn ceiling invites rays of sunshine, reflecting off the bottle shards in the floor and the wide grins of its proud hospitality staff. Like the grape itself, visiting can restore your hope and faith in the world over.
Not only is Rieslingfreak the authority and ambassador for Riesling in this country, but they are also die-hard fans committed to the glorification of Jesus’s drink of choice. Amen to them.
2024 No 3 Clare Valley
From the family White Hutt vineyard. Immediate white florals unfurl from the glass. Jasmine and flannel flower. Green Alphonso mango skin, orange blossom and pink lady apple. It’s tightly coiled with a touch of spritz that relaxes and opens to white stone fruit and lemon peel. Acidity, although upright as expected, is surprisingly unified in the wine. The fleshiness of white peach is gathering momentum. This feels like it’s been getting to know itself in the bottle for longer than it has. Ready for drinking but of course another 10-15 years of jubilant life ahead of it yet. Drink with peach and arugula salad with crumbled ghost cheese. 97 Points
2024 No 4 Eden Valley
Passion flower, Feijoa and frangipani blooms. Stoney and mineral with a cucumber melon freshness. High toned and electric acidity, this wine has power almost beyond measure. Twinged in all the right places for long term cellaring. The palate has a lacey skin texture, coupled with blue stones and running river water. It’s graceful and yet demands your attention with a casual firm grip. A wine for white meats like poached chicken salads and slices of pork medallion. 94 Points
2024 No 2 Polish Hill River
The fruit was picked over two nights and ten days apart. Lemonade fruit, finger lime and starfruit. White talc, marble and immovable white stone like minerality. Clover flowers, celery heart and aloe. The wine has an almond shell creaminess and finishes with a taut sea spray salinity. It shouts of pure lime pith with a clean laser like acidity. This is shockingly focused and impeccably balanced. Fruit is amplified by savoury edges and flavours of inorganic matter. Steel wool, quartz and concrete. It’s otherworldly, to be perfectly honest, quite hard to describe. It’s ethereal. All I can say is this is what you’d drink at the pearly gates, if you’ve been good of course. Drink now and will age glacially for another 20 years. Serve with a sashimi of crystal prawns and white soy. 96 Points
2024 No 12 Flaxman Valley
The fruit here is harvested from the Lienert family vineyard in Flaxman Valley, High Eden. Ripe feijoa, tropical passion flower and green toffee apple, quite like the old zombie chews confectionery. There is a stark lime sherbert note with hints of floral orchard apple and cherry blossom. It’s supple and flows across the palate like a river stream. The Eden site shines here with a touch of lychee juice and refreshing coconut water finish. Drink now and will cellar well for 8-15 years further. A lovely pairing with peeled prawns and tartare sauce. 95 Points
2024 No 10 Zenit (200 dozen made)
The Number 10 is the ultimate regional blend. The riesling best represents the vintage. This vintage it’s a blend of 65% Flaxman in Eden and 35% old vines from White Hutt, Clare Valley. These vines are around 64 years old. There is plenty of discussion to get this wine just right, agonising over a 1% here and there is not uncommon. So it’s always a wine that deserves some appreciation. Lemon balm, makrut lime leaf, grated ginger and fennel seed. White nectarine crabapple and frangipani blooms. It is equally perfumed and lofty as it is direct in focused palate weight. It’s impossible not to enjoy and will please any white wine drinker on the planet. Drink with crusty bread and ham sliced off the bone. 95 Points
2024 No 5 Clare Valley Off dry 13g/l
Look away if you don’t want to be utterly seduced, for you have now been warned. In a vintage such as 2024 the off dry styles of riesling from Rieslingfreak are something to be savoured. Cascading star jasmine, mock orange and gardenias are blooming. A trickle of fresh running stream over blue stone. Lily pily, pomelo and golden kiwi. A crunch of green apple on the palate leads to a tickle of sweetness in all the right places. It will make you giggle till you groan. For there is tension and energy in every sip. A sake-like freshness and transparency of Clare Valley fruit that cannot be replicated anywhere else in the world. This is magnificent stuff. Drink with Prawn Cheung Fun and glory in a pairing fit for kings. 97 Points
2024 No 8 Polish Hill Schatzhammer 32g/l
What a journey this wine takes you on. At first glance you’ll find Buddha’s hand citrus, citron and grapefruit. A touch of magnolia and sage leaf. There is an earthy oyster mushroom and sandstone quality. Then BAM Smack your lips and call me betty. A waterfall of dill, pickled radish and guava. The vineyard shines here with sweetness perfectly matched to suit the character of the fruit. It’s JUST right and a demonstration as to why you need to be a freak of all things Riesling to produce wine this good. Cellar for another 20 years if you have the patience of a saint. Serve with luscious pork belly. 96 Points
2023 No 5 Clare Valley off dry
A cascade of citron, chamomile, sunshine and morning dew. The wine is joyous, with brilliant yellow florals and grapefruit. The dollop of sweetness counter balances the elevated acidity, the way fluffy meringue compliments a tart lemon curd. It’s a choir of songs. Ripe orchard fruits, with a lark of lemon and lime skin. You would be hard pressed to find a better off dry style in Australia. Drink with crunchy pork crackling tossed through popcorn. 95 Points
2023 No 99
The Experimental wine of the bunch. This sees maturation in seasoned foudres or 3 months in seasoned oak, the original plan was 12 months, but thanks to the Hughes never resting on their laurels, when they tasted it after 3 months it was so good, they bottled it. John thinks it’s one of the top 5 wines they have ever made.
It takes you on a journey to a far flung land with jackfruit, lemonade skin and buddha’s hand citrus. There is also white pepper, crushed raw walnuts and quince. Marigold, nutmeg and caraway. Savoury fernet bitters, with subtle traces of hops and malt. Manuka honey without the sweetness. It’s nutty and textural. This is designed for a deep yellow curry and potato samosas. 95 Points
2023 No 2 Polish Hill River
A sparkler of flint reduction crackling over a lemon drizzle cake, There are thin slices of candied lemon, golden delicious apple. The palate narrows and lengthens, still knitting together. It’s tightly wired and twitching with energy. Green apple skin and Makrut lime. This will live forever if well cellared, or may I suggest 10-15 years. Drink with plump seaweed scallops and miso butter. 95 Points
