WINING GOLFER [ LIFESTYLE ]

Riesling grapes growing at Grosset Wines in South Australias Clare Valley.

Give it a go
M
ENTION the word Riesling in polite company and youll get an ambivalent response. For many, its a word that strikes fear into the heart. Not merely the name of a grape variety, Riesling somehow became synonymous with bag-in-a-box goon, hangovers, headaches, inexpensive dross and a three-day growth. It is the fit-all wine term of yesteryear for white wine of indeterminate origin. Times have changed, but the stigma of the past remains. Despite being lauded by critics, and showing that it is capable of producing outstandingly expressive, long-lived wines in both sweet and dry styles, Riesling is a hard sell for all but a few specialists of the variety in this country. Those specialists are concentrated in small pockets of Australia where climatic conditions suit the variety. Riesling prospers in the cold, with its nominal birthplace along the steep banks of the Mosel River in Germany. There it retains high natural acidity, helped along by freezing winters and a marginal climate for ripening. Australias best sites, in South Australias Clare and Eden Valleys, West Australias Frankland River (right) and Tasmania, dont replicate the severity of German conditions but do enable dedicated growers to create distinctively floral-, lime- and lemon-driven Rieslings that are deserving of respect. A good starting point for those looking to explore would be with names like Grosset, Pikes, Kerri Thompson, Frankland River, Castle Rock and Leo Buring. Then of course, there is Germany, and no exploration of Riesling can be complete without delving into these remarkably long-lived and unique wines. By a strange coincidence, one of the most adventurous importers of Riesling in Australia is a man who was a former deputy editor of Australian Golf Digest. Neville Yates was at the magazine during the reign of

Rieslings old stigma belies a truly classic and underestimated varietal. By Grant Dodd
the legendary Phil Tressider. He caught the wine bug along the way, and in a twist of fate many years later, found himself with access to a handful of high-quality German producers who were interested in selling wine in the Australian market. Yates now handles an enviable portfolio of some of the greatest names in the Riesling world, including Willi Schaefer, Fritz Haag, Reinhold Haart and Zilliken. These are wines of the very highest order, grown along the slopes of Germanys main rivers in some of the most extreme conditions known to viticulture. They come in a range of styles and sweetness, all the way from dry to the late-picked style, which can have more than 300g of sugar per litre. Needless to say, these are wines that take some understanding, but the combination of delicacy, power and persistence that the greatest Rieslings bring to the table are an experience that every wine lover should savour at some point in their life. Yates is more than happy to help people find something to their liking, and can be contacted through his company, Eurocentric Wines. One more thing; many of these wines weigh in around the 7-8 per cent alcohol range, meaning youll have to drink an awful lot to induce one of those demonic Riesling hangovers of days past.

BEN SEARCY ( MAIN)

To ask Grant a question,e-mail us at golfdig@newslifemedia.com.au

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