Petaluma Hanlin Hill Riesling 2009
12.5% A/V. Screwcap closure. Very bright straw white with attractive florals of orange blossom, musk and honeysuckle over lime and chalk. The palate is beautifully constructed holding an immaculate tight line, wonderful focus, sensational delineation followed by a lengthy finish riddled with explosive citrus fruit and ripe, crunchy acidity. One of the better young Petaluma's with a 10-15 year drinking window. 93 points.
Crabtree Watervale Riesling 2001
12% A/V. Cork sealed. I've cellared this Clare Valley (South Australia) wine for many years now and tonight's showing revealed this is in a very good place at the moment. The colour suggestive of maturity with the glowing light gold hue particularly pleasing to the eye. The bouquet retains a degree of youthfulness with lovely lime and pear aromas complexed by delicious bottle-aged toast and honey characters. Lithe and svelte in the mouth with some honeyed character to support the abundant orchard fruit (lime/apple/pear and orange), the wine finishes clean and crisp with fine acidity and a lengthy departure. After some 8 hours of breathing and sitting in the glass the wine only just now starts to crack up marginally - not a bad effort from a "so-so" vintage and a relatively unknown producer. I'd give it a couple more years but there's no need to wait any longer. Solid effort from Robert Crabtree here - 88 points.
Kuentz-Bas Alsace Grand Cru Pfersigberg Riesling 1996
12% A/V. Cork closure. Glowing yellow gold. Fascinating mature almost "malty" aromatic nose of honeyed ripe yellow peach, an almost gewurtz-like lychee/rose petal characters underpinned by deepset minerals and limestone with a little petroloeum and smoke as a tope note. Delivers a somewhat spiky sweet tropical fruit character (pineapple!) at first on the forepalate with rather disjointed acidity cutting in thereafter. Just drinkable and rated as fair on the palate. Frustratingly enigmatic and difficult to assess but will settle at 78 points as a score.
Pike's 2009 Clare Valley Riesling 2009
Selaed with a screwcap, this wine came in at a modest 12% A/V, displayed a bright light straw colour and delivered very attractive floral, citrus, lanolin and honeysuckle aromas with a minerally egde providing counterbalance. The palate shows bucketloads of citrus, waxy apple, honeysuckle and herb-tinged fruit, although I thought it quite forward with a fleshy, mouthfilling texture with the acidity somewhat sedate just at the moment behind all this ripe fruit. The finish is quite long with a nice twist of acid cut. Certainly very good/almost excellent but the longer this sat in the glass, somehow I just couldn't get that excited. 88 points and not a long term proposition, methinks.
