Rieslings: They’re either ravishing sopranos, expressive altos or passionate tenors. Photo / Getty Images
Rieslings: They’re either ravishing sopranos, expressive altos or passionate tenors. Photo / Getty Images
What is the greatest white-wine variety? Chardonnay is the most famous, but Hugh Johnson, the world’s biggest-selling wine author, argues it’s riesling.
“Chardonnay is a winemaker’s wine … you can manipulate chardonnay in the winery and it will obediently respond with more texture, more creaminess, more freshness or whatever youchoose.”
By contrast, riesling is less flexible and fussier about where it is grown. “But make it happy in the vineyard, don’t fiddle with it too much in the winery, and it will sing of its origins in clear, pure tones. It can be a ravishing soprano, an expressive alto, even a passionate tenor …”
In New Zealand, most wine drinkers avoid riesling, in the belief it is sweet. In fact, its wines range from bone dry to honey-sweet. Most produced here are medium-dry, with a sliver of sweetness to balance their natural high acidity. But if you prefer white wines that are fully dry – or at least taste dry – here are some rieslings that are well worth discovering.
Astrolabe The Farm Marlborough Dry Riesling 2020
★★★★½
Estate-grown in the lower Wairau Valley, this refined wine has gentle, toasty, bottle-aged notes emerging. Light- to medium-bodied, it has strong, vigorous, lemony, peachy flavours and a crisp, dryish, lingering finish. It’s drinking well now. (11.5% alc/vol) $27
Misha’s Vineyard Lyric Central Otago Riesling 2022
This is the sort of dry riesling New Zealand needs a lot more of. Hand-picked at Bendigo, it was mostly handled in stainless steel tanks, but a third of the blend was fermented in old oak barrels. Full-bodied and fleshy, it has concentrated, citrusy, appley flavours that are finely balanced and persistent. (13% alc/vol) $35
Pegasus Bay Bel Canto Dry Riesling 2022
★★★★½
Based on the estate’s mature vines at Waipara, in North Canterbury, this distinctive wine was hand-picked with some botrytis (“noble rot”). Unusually weighty for riesling, it has strong, peachy, vaguely honeyed flavours, firm acid spine and a basically dry, tightly structured finish. Best drinking mid-2025+. (14% alc/vol) $40
Tohu Single Vineyard Whenua Awa Awatere Valley Marlborough Riesling 2019
★★★★½
Still youthful, this wine shows excellent intensity, vigour and length. Medium-bodied, it has strong, vibrant, lemony, appley flavours, firm acid spine and an almost fully dry finish. (12% alc/vol) $26
Full of drink-young appeal, this invitingly scented wine was grown in the Ohiti Valley. It is medium-bodied, with fresh, citrusy flavours showing very good delicacy and depth, lively acidity and a dryish, very harmonious finish. Priced sharply. (12% alc/vol) $17
