There isn’t a lot of competition in Piedmont, but this has to be the region’s best Riesling. Nor would it look shabby in a tasting with examples from the Alto Adige. Made entirely with clone 49 on poor, sandy soils, it’s a dry, tangy style with notes of white flowers and lime zest and a crisp, tapering finish. Beautifully balanced.
White Varietal: Riesling
2011 Pegasus Bay, Bel Canto Dry Riesling, Waipara Valley
( £13-£17, 14%, New Generation Wines )An evocative name for a delicious wine. This full-bodied “dry” Riesling from the Waipara Valley is actually off-dry, but it’s none the worse for that. This is exotic and rich, with old vine complexity and flavours of lime, peach and nectarine. It’s especially good with spicy food, but is also delicious as an aperitif.
2013 Sybille Kuntz, Riesling Auslese Feinherb, Mosel
( €39, 13% )The best and oldest parcels on the Niederberg-Helden Einzellage are used to make this remarkable wine. It’s on the dry side for an Auslese, with 51.9 grams of sugar, with the concentration and slaty minerality beautifully entwined. Floral and appealingly honeyed, with notes of nectarine and ripe pear sustained by citrus- and pink grapefruit-like acidity
2013 Sybille Kuntz, Riesling Qualitätswein Trocken, Mosel
( €11.90, 12% )Sourced from single vineyard sites in Kues, Kardinalsberg and Weisenstein, this is “only” the entry point wine from this excellent estate. It’s just off-dry, with 8.3 grams of sugar balanced by acidity and crisp, refeshing flavours of green apple and grapefruit. The perfect summer wine…in 2015.
2013 Sybille Kuntz, Riesling Spätlese Trocken, Mosel
( €25.50, 13% )A late picked, yet “dry” style of Spätlese from the Niederberg-Helden, with remarkable concentration and persistence, underlining Sybille Kuntz’s reputation as one of the Mosel’s best producers. Rich and slightly savoury, with smoky minerality, some stone fruit sweetness, a hint of fennel and a poised, balanced, tapering finish. Exceptional winemaking.
2013 Sybille Kuntz, Riesling Beerenauslese Edelsüß, Mosel
( €95, 12% )What an incredible bottle of wine. Sybille Kuntz is better known for her dry than sweet styles, but this shows that she’s equally adept at both. This comes from mostly ungrafted vineyards planted in the 1920s in Niederberg-Helden. It’s an exotic wine all right, but the tropical fruit flavours of pineapple and mango are tempered by acidity and extract. A Riesling that lingers tantalisingly on the palate.
2013 Sybille Kuntz, Riesling Kabinett Trocken, Mosel-Saar-Ruwer
( €17.50, 12.5% )The Riesling grapes that go into this cuvée come from a series of old vines sites in the Paul Valley close to the River Mosel. It’s another very assured performance, with a richness that’s almost remiscent of the Pfalz. Musky and faintly exotic, with lovely weight and density, sustained by tangy acidity. The balanced between slight sweetness and acidity is very well judged.
2012 McGuigan, No 1081 The Shortlist Riesling, Eden Valley, South Australia
( £15, 11.5%, Tesco Wine Online )Lime blossom-scented, toasty Eden Valley Riesling showing some enticing bottle development. Like the rest of The Shortlist range, this provides excellent value for money. Tangy and long on the palate, it’s a very pure, almost transparent expression of the grape.
2013 Mission Estate Winery, Riesling, Hawkes Bay
( £11.50, 11.5%, Cockburn & Campbell )Made in an off-dry style that is typical of New Zealand, this has impressive concentration and depth of flavour. It’s perfumed and floral, with the fruit sweetness balanced by acidity and freshness. Lime and toast are the dominant flavours here with a hint of tannin on the finish.
2011 Domaines Schlumberger, Riesling Les Princes Abbés, Alsace
( £13.99, 12.5%, Majestic )It’s a pleasure to drink an Alsace Riesling made in a dry style like this one. Stony, minerally and unoaked, this is tangy and transparent with appealing bottle development but enough concentration to age for another four to eight years. Great with food.
Newcomers on the scene
by Matt Walls
They wouldn’t have got past the elevator pitch in Dragons’ Den. “So you want to sell premium Austrian wines from a transport container in the East End of London?” summarises...
2012 Terraprima Massís del Garraf, Penedès
( £12, 12.5% )An off-the-wall blend of Riesling and the Cava grape, Xarel-lo, this is something to challenge your friends with in a blind tasting. It’s got that slight earthiness of Xarel-lo, leavened by the acidity and lime blossom notes of Riesling, made in a dry style that works really well with food. Stony, mineral and ocean-influenced.