Dukes Magpie Hill Reserve Rieslings vertical

[Waiters Friend]

G’day

Dukes Vineyard in the Porongorup region of Western Australia was a retirement project for the founders, over 20 years ago. This from the website:

Ben Cane and his partner Sarah Date purchased Duke's Vineyard when founders Duke and Hilde Ranson decided to retire in 2022. Ben, previously the chief winemaker at top labels in Australia and California, was honored to be entrusted by Duke to continue running this family-owned operation renowned for putting Great Southern Rieslings on the map.

Duke's Vineyard was awarded the industry's most prestigious prize when the 2017 Magpie Hill Reserve Riesling was named Australian Wine of the Year by James Halliday in 2019. It was the first time a white wine scored 99 out of 100 points and helped cement the reputation of Western Australia's Great Southern as one of Australia's top regions for Riesling.

I’ve been building up a collection of Magpie Hill Rieslings for a decade now, and it was time to explore them. As usual, a group of us invaded the wonderful Lulu’s Little Bistro in Perth.

We looked at 11 vintages (10 consecutive) of the Magpie Hill Reserve Rieslings – tasted from youngest to oldest:

Dukes Magpie Hill Reserve Riesling 2024: Pale lemon in colour. A perfumed, floral nose, with lemon blossom, lime and green apple. The palate is intense, with pure lime juice, a hint of apricot and peach kernel, and high acid (not surprisingly). Medium to long finish.

Dukes Magpie Hill Reserve Riesling 2023: Pale lemon in colour. The nose initially showed mild kero, but the expected lime juice, lemon blossom and a little ginger emerged. Lots of lime juice on the palate, with a little sour lemon, ginger, grapefruit and barley water. There’s some minerality, and the wine finishes long. Well regarded by the tasting group.

Dukes Magpie Hill Reserve Riesling 2022: Pale lemon in colour. A little more kero on the nose, with lemon/lime, grapefruit and a little curry leaf. There’s lemon lime on the palate, slightly cordial-like, with lemon sour drops (the lollies) and quince. Again, high acid and minerality and a medium length.

Dukes Magpie Hill Reserve Riesling 2021: Lemon in colour. Slight kero, with a floral nose (lemon blossom), lime and green apple. The palate shows grapefruit and lemon pith. It was described by one taster as ‘linear’, and has a clean finish, due to the medium/high acid.

Dukes Magpie Hill Reserve Riesling 2020: Lemon colour. A slightly less intense nose than the previous wines, with lemon-lime, kero and mandarin. These flavours flow through to the palate, with a little orange peel as well. Slight minerality, and medium to high acid. Highly regarded by the group. Note: this, and the wines either side, showed less intensity than the first three wines, but overall seemed better balanced. I don’t know why.

Dukes Magpie Hill Reserve Riesling 2019: Lemon colour. A little more intense than the 2020 all round, with some perfumed notes adding to the lemon-lime and floral on the nose. The palate showed lemon-lime cordial, some salinity, and high acid.

Dukes Magpie Hill Reserve Riesling 2018: Lemon colour. Some sherbet or cotton candy alongside lemon-lime, talc and florals on the nose. The palate shows clean lemon and lime, nectarine, green apple, orange peel, lemon tart (i.e. baked), with a tiny amount of salinity and kero. Very well balanced.

Dukes Magpie Hill Reserve Riesling 2017: Has most of the characters noted for the 2018, but without the kero and sherbet. Slightly darker in colour, too. Signs of development, with a little stone fruit, fennel, rocket and lanolin creeping in. Zippy acid and very long finish. Highly regarded by the group.

Dukes Magpie Hill Reserve Riesling 2016: Lemon colour. A modest nose (by comparison), with lemon-lime, florals and some minerality. The palate shows orange peel, lemon/lime, white peach and a touch of lanolin. High Acid. Signs of development in terms of mouthfeel and slightly diminished fruit.

Dukes Magpie Hill Reserve Riesling 2015: Lemon colour with tinges of gold. The nose is toasty and honeyed, with lime cordial and BBQ pineapple. The palate is rich and developed, with more lime cordial, bruised apple and pastry. Good length and well regarded by the group.

Dukes Magpie Hill Reserve Riesling 2010: Gold colour. Charred grilled lemon and camphor on the nose. The palate is fully developed, with baked pear, apple crumble, lime cordial, marmalade, and a hint of Parmesan cheese. Good supporting acid and excellent length.

The 2017 and 2015 Rieslings achieved equal highest votes from the group, which would seem to indicate that 10 years of age is quite reasonable. Dukes claims at least 20 years, but we cannot verify that from this tasting.

We then finished with a bracket of Dukes reds, from the 2018 vintage (an excellent one in W.A.).

Dukes Whole Bunch Shiraz 2018: Ruby colour. A stalky nose, with ripe red and blue berries, violets, white pepper, and musk stick or bubblegum. There’s cola and a little bubblegum on the palate also, with soft, dusty tannins and moderate acid. A gentle wine overall, and not a typical shiraz.

Dukes Magpie Hill Reserve Shiraz 2018: Ruby colour. A full nose, with blood plums, cloves, white pepper and a touch of earthiness. Some liquorice on the palate, with rich plummy fruit, ripe tannins and soft acid. Full bodied and a long finish and well regarded by the group. More in the style of a traditional shiraz.

Dukes Magpie Hill Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2018: Ruby colour. Tomato leaf, tobacco, cocoa powder and menthol or eucalypt on the nose. There was also mention of petrochlor, which turned out to be the smell of rain on hot bitumen. The palate is rich and has plenty of fruit sweetness, with cassis, blackcurrant and blackberry, olive tapenade, and Christmas cake spices. There’s fine but grippy tannins, and medium acid leading to a long finish.

This tasting showed the consistency of Dukes Magpie Hill Rieslings over many years – Duke got it right early on, and Ben and Sarah have continued the trend. The tasting also shows that Dukes is not just about Riesling, and I believe the reds fly under the radar unnecessarily – these show similar fruit purity and the deft handling that the Rieslings enjoy.

Many thanks to Mark and Jodie at Lulu’s Little Bistro for hosting us, and to those who joined me and contributed their comments.

Cheers
Allan

[SipAndANibble]

Great write up, an interesting read. Cheers

[Mike Hawkins]

Thanks for the write up. I only have a few vintages but haven’t tried any with age… looking forward to trying them now.