2023 Grosset, Polish Hill Riesling, Clare Valley, Australia

From Grosset’s eight-hectare vineyard in the Polish Hill subregion of Clare, planted in 1996 on a ‘gently sloping site comprised of silt and shallow shales over a thin crust of clay and gravel, overlaying a bed of blue slate’. Lower-yielding, smaller bunches than the Riesling on Springvale vineyard in Watervale.

As is so often the case with this wine, it’s much more restrained, shy and delicately aromatic compared with Grosset’s other single-vineyard Riesling, the Springvale. It’s also more coiled and tighter and focused on the palate, but the precision and the tingling acidity, the sense of future potential, are simply scintillating. Will be fascinating to see how this ages in bottle – very well indeed, I think.

Drink 2023 - 2043

Subdued aromas of talc, chalk, orchard fruits, tatami straw, finger lime and fresh lemonade. Dry and tightly furled to a point that verges on severity. There is bountiful extract that pummels the cheeks and stains the palate, suggestive of a bright future despite the unyielding youthfulness now. From biodynamically grown grapes. Drink or hold. Screw cap.

The 2023 Polish Hill Riesling is utterly superb. It has the flesh and body that only the Clare can deliver; it is shaped by coiled acidity, and it ripples through the finish with unfettered fruit power. It's a glorious thing, this wine. It's looking precise, focused and floral through the lens of the 2023 season. 12.9% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

Drink 2023 - 2043