GCV McAskill Riesling
2021

A benchmark example of Australian Riesling with purity, structure and a beguiling prettiness. The nose is bristling with fresh lime, slate and jasmine. The palate has a floral thread from start to finish with piercing acidity that is met by citrus fruits with commensurate power and impact. Slate, lime and cut white flowers linger. Truly exceptional. Drink 2021 - 2040.

Exhibiting exceptional purity and poise, the wine shows lemon/lime peel, green apple and subtle jasmine aromas on the nose, followed by a concentrated palate offering brilliant focus and flow. Firmly structured and immensely long on the finish. At its best: 2025 to 2038.

McAskill is a range of small volume, top-quality wines from the Gaelic Cemetery Vineyard, established in 1996. The aim is to produce modern-style Australian Riesling, by picking early in the morning in order to retain good levels of natural acidity and the freshness of the fruit, then through limited intervention in the winemaking. Floral, elegant, aromatic, refined: a wine of purity and finesse. Salty, crisp, vivacious, delicate poise and charming, balanced length. One to bloom with time in bottle.

1 of only 1200 bottles produced, the fruit for this wine is an older-vine selection from a single vineyard. This consists of layers of mouth-filling, palate-staining fruit concentration, testament to the wonderful ‘21 vintage. Green apples, lime, lemon pith, some citrus florals and damp-chalk phenolics. As an outfit, the White Hut riesling offers more immediate drinking pleasure, but the spiny acidity and phenolic structure in this wine speak to the long life ahead of it. Very smart, classy and exciting.

Black label in both appearance and quality, this is a serious single vineyard riesling from the northern Clare Valley. While the white label rieslings from Gaelic Cemetery impress with their generous upfront fruit, we are at a completely new level here. It’s super pale in colour, almost watery white, leading to a stony and floral expression of Clare with a powerful core of embryonic fruits. It’s still fairly closed and only hinting at where its future lies. The palate follows in the same vein with tightly coiled fruits driven by a tense acid backbone. At the same time it’s still beautifully balanced over a long and silky finish. You could drink it now and appreciate its youthful vitality or enjoy a more expressive style with time in the bottle – the decision is yours.