It’s Revival time. Put down your New Age pinot and hide your unwooded chardonnay low down in the ice-bucket. Riesling’s back in town and it’s okay to talk about it. So, as a community service, it seemed like a good idea to revisit riesling, especially those from 1997, heralded in the trade and media as one of the great vintages. So I opened about eighty of them. Very, very revealing stuff. While several wines atop the riesling scale fully justify their hype and attention, I couldn’t help being concerned by the dullness and sameness of so many of those priced at or slightly above ‘entry level’. It’s easy to see why drinkers have shunned this grape for so long. We can’t drink Polish Hill, Petaluma and Howard Park every day, so it’s important that for riesling to succeed, there needs to be more good wine in the $10-$13 range. Hell, if Jacob’s Creek can taste that good at only $7, surely some can do better. Too many cool-climate rieslings are excessively herbal and green, while several wines from respected major brands are simply flawed by an excess of sulphide or searing acids. A surprising number of wines are still made with obvious enzyme enhancement, resulting in one-dimensional confection/bath powder flavours which age poorly. The day was of course saved by the quality, varietal definition and sheer delicious drinkability of affordably-priced rieslings like Mitchelton’s Blackwood Park, Annie’s Lane, Mitchell, Pikes, Chateau Tahbilk, Orlando St Helga and Pewsey Vale. The top wines, introduced in detail below, then made it special. But the writing is on the wall. Riesling will only succeed to its potential when the public can readily buy a bottle for a fair price and feel truly confident in their purchase. There’s still a lotta work to be done. Australia’s 1997 Rieslings 1997 has become popularly known as a ‘great’ riesling year. As this tasting indicates, there are more than enough wines to justify its status as a brilliant season. Clare Valley and Eden Valley have unquestionably experienced one of the great ones. But I’d be careful of the blanket assumption that if it’s from ’97, it’s a world-beater. It is quite true, however, that in 1997 wine quality welded together with public and media attention on riesling to an extent not seen since the first time chardonnay boomed. February rain in the Clare Valley maintained healthy vine canopies, prevented sunburn and encouraged the best rieslings for many years. After February heat, the Eden Valley’s riesling vines enjoyed a cooler March, ripening fruit to exceptional quality. Out West, after an extended spell of cool weather, late sunshine helped what John Wade expected to be the Great Southern’s best riesling vintage since the classic season of 1986 to ripen properly.
