More than ever before there’s a single name that leaps to the forefront whenever Australian riesling is mentioned. And the name in question is that of a specialist Clare Valley maker who has done to riesling what Shane Warne has done to leg-spin. Jeffrey Grosset’s wines are right at the sharp end of Australia’s resurgent interest in this classic German white variety Ever since 1976, when he arrived as assistant winemaker to a German winery near Freiburg only to find himself fully in charge when the French head winemaker failed to appear, Grosset has nurtured a very special relationship with the riesling variety. After a brief stint at Lindemans’ Karadoc winery at Mildura in 1980 he moved to Auburn in the Clare Valley and in 1981 began making the two benchmark rieslings on which his reputation has flourished. His consistent success with these two wines, Polish Hill and Watervale Riesling, recently culminated in not only being named as The Wine Magazine’s Winemaker of the Year (an Australian award) in 1998, but as International Riesling Winemaker of the Year in Hamburg, an unprecedented honour for an Australian winemaker. Jeffrey Grosset is about to launch only his third dry riesling label in nearly twenty years, a wine made exclusively for Business and First Class Qantas passengers. To be introduced to flights from this September, the Grosset Qantas Riesling 1999 is a round and generous wine packed full of concentrated limey riesling flavour. Especially made for consumption within a year or two of vintage, Grosset has ensured that its acids are approachable and soft, yet fresh enough to ensure a classically clean riesling finish. Grosset has also created a Qantas South Australian Chardonnay 1998 in which he has blended roughly equal proportions of Clare Valley and Adelaide Hills material. Brightly flavoured with citrus and melon chardonnay fruit, it’s received significant but measured oak maturation. This way, says Grosset, it doesn’t need maturation to develop a balanced harmony between fruit and oak, and can immediately deliver freshness and roundness on the palate.
