Commonsense has finally prevailed and from 1 January 2001 wine labelled as riesling must actually be made from this noble grape. At last! Australia’s larger wine companies have long resisted this change, but the argument that they had ‘considerable investment’ in this term as a generic falls on very deaf ears in my case. Australia has long championed the argument that our labels are honest, so it’s high time out bite was as big as our bark. A six-month moratorium will be allocated in which any wines labelled as riesling but made from inferior grape varieties can find their way from the shelves they have graced for so long.
