Australian Riesling: small but mighty

Australian Riesling might make up just 0.5% of the nation's wine exports, but it's managing to carve out its own distinctive niche due to its freshness, moderate alcohol content and fruit purity, writes Kathleen Willcox.

Aussie Shiraz will likely never have to worry about Riesling stealing its crown when it comes to volume. But, while production levels of Riesling in Australia are still relatively low (compare, for example, Shiraz’s 39,893 hectares to Riesling’s modest 3,157ha), the quality and unique character that is emerging is drawing attention from both serious collectors and casual enthusiasts alike. Riesling is having a moment among the type of people who obsess over terroir, old vines, cool-climate and acid-driven wines, after a long era of oversight. “Riesling was once the most valuable wine in the world,” says David Parker, CEO of Benchmark Wine Group (read db's Big Interview with him here), a leading source of fine and rare wine for retailers, restaurants and collectors in the US. “Overproduction in the ’60s and ’70s greatly diminished its standing in many collectors’ eyes, but that’s finally changing. Its broad food friendliness and the revived appeal of white wines is helping Riesling gain friends among top wine aficionados.” White wines broadly, but especially white wines like Riesling that pair well with food and are naturally low in alcohol, are experiencing growth amid the general downturn in wine sales. The Silicon Valley Bank State of the US Wine Industry Report 2025 predicted that white wine more generally would be one of the few categories to move the needle in sales during this year. “Serious wine lovers do now know how good and versatile Australian Riesling can be,” says Christina Pickard, reviewer of Australian wines for Wine Enthusiast. “Producers like Grosset and Riesling Freak in the Clare Valley, Pewsey Vale in Eden Valley, Pooley in Tasmania and Castelli in Great Southern – to name just a few – have helped carve a world-class reputation for the variety, opening the doors for small-batch producers to creatively champion a variety that has been happily growing on Aussie soils since the early 1800s.” Currently, Riesling’s 3,157ha of vineyard across Australia accounts for only 2.3% of the total area, and 6.5% of the total whites planted. There is clearly room to grow. But by how much, and where?

Mysterious origins

The origins of Riesling in Australia are a bit of a mystery. While there are reports that the grape arrived with the first European settlers aboard the First Fleet in 1788, and that it was planted in 1791 by Phillip Schaeffer near the Parramatta River, others point to John Macarthur and James Busby as being the first to plant and truly champion the grape, in 1817 and 1833 respectively. Early on, Clare Valley and Eden Valley established themselves as the best terroirs for Riesling in the country. Today, they still dominate Riesling acreage, with Clare Valley capturing 34% of the country’s Riesling plantings, and Eden Valley possessing 12%. “Riesling became a standout success early on in Australia because it has the acid and low pH that helped it resist the oxidation and spoilage that other earlier varieties and plantains succumbed to,” says Brian Croser, co-founder of Tapanappa Wines in the Adelaide Hills. “The vineyard growing our Eden Valley Riesling was planted in the 1960s by descendants of the Silesian immigrants who planted Riesling in the first half of the 19th century.” The style Croser makes today at Tapanappa mirrors the “late pick, dry style made anaerobically to capture maximum fresh fruit flavour” that those first vintners made. Today, there are still “no two better regions in Australia than Eden Valley and Clare Valley for growing Riesling, because they express fruit purity and natural, fresh acidity”, says Brett Schutz, senior winemaker at Peter Lehmann Wines, who credits high elevation and “shallow soils with sub-surfaces of ironstone, quartz gravel, limestone and slate” for Australia’s trademark zingy, lively Rieslings.

Beyond the icons

But others say it’s time to look beyond the country’s traditional icon terroirs. “The best regions in Australia for Riesling are those where the climate provides cold nights, so the aromatic flavours and acids can be preserved,” says Louisa Rose, winemaker and head of sustainability at Hill-Smith Family Estates, a global winemaking and distribution business. She notes that, in addition to mainstays Eden Valley and Clare Valley, Canberra’s continental climate, and über-cool Tasmania are on the rise.

‘Finesse and precision’: The Lost Watch is sourced from the Adelaide Hills Matt Deller MW, CEO of Wirra Wirra and Ashton Hills wineries, concurs that Clare and Eden valleys will “always be benchmarks”. At the same time, Deller argues that vineyards in Tasmania, and the site in the Adelaide Hills where Wirra Wirra sources grapes for its The Lost Watch Riesling, deliver “Rieslings with finesse, natural acid and precision that’s redefining the category”. Ashton Hills, he notes, is producing a completely different expression of Riesling, but just as compelling. The grapes are sourced from Piccadilly, the coolest sub-region in the Adelaide Hills, and Deller says the south-facing, high-elevation site is protected from the afternoon heat, delivering “a more delicate, floral Riesling with finer acidity and a softer fruit profile, compared to The Lost Watch’s firmer, more citrus-driven structure and saline edge.” The diversity of thoughtfully farmed and cellared cool-climate Riesling belies easy categorisation, argues Hill-Smith’s Rose. “I’m not sure you can talk about Australian Rieslings as a category, as each region is different,” Rose says. “What I would say is that Riesling is a variety like a mirror. It reflects where it is grown, and the great Riesling wines have perfect balance that also reflects this balance of its flavours, acidity, residual sugar, alcohol, phenolics and other components.” In Australia, vintners often strike this balance by allowing the grapes to ripen fully, with very little residual sugar. Flavourful and fruit-forward when young, they become more complex and elegant with time.

Handle with care

Riesling’s ability to accurately reflect the areas in which it is grown means that work in the vineyard and cellar need to be careful, respectful and relatively hands-off. Plant the right site in the correct way, and stand back. The Riesling will do the rest. “We know the character of Riesling is made in the vineyard, and not the winery,” says Michelle Geber, managing director of Château Tanunda, which has some of the oldest continually producing Riesling vines in the world, with its 100-year-old, 2.4-hectare parcel planted on Barossa’s eastern ridges. Geber explains: “At Château Tanunda, our Grand Barossa Dry Riesling is a great example of what makes Australian Riesling so thrilling: precision winemaking married to ancient vines from a special site, producing a wine of a medium weight, abundant flavour, yet with finesse [and] crisp acidity. Compared to Germany’s floral delicacy or Alsace’s textural opulence, our style is bold, citrus and apple-driven, and effortlessly elegant, with fruit purity as its signature.” The Riesling for this wine is gently whole-bunch-pressed, and fermented at low temperatures in stainless steel in an effort to preserve purity and aromatics. A small portion of the wine spends extended time on the lees, which is designed to add complexity and mid-palate texture, without compromising vibrancy. Peter Lehmann’s Schutz concurs that decisions made in the vineyard with Riesling have an outsized effect on what happens in the bottle. “Throughout the vintage period, our winemakers and viticulturist taste our vineyards daily in order to pinpoint the precise optimum date to harvest the fruit,” Schutz says. “From there, a swift time period between harvest and juice-skin separation is critical to the production of quality Riesling.” The team assiduously protects the Riesling from oxidation, gently ferments the grapes with neutral yeast and bottles early, aiming to maximise varietal expression and precisely translate the flavour on the vine into the wine. Rose, meanwhile, credits wild yeasts with Hill-Smith Riesling’s purity of flavour and fineness of construction. “The wild yeasts piggyback on grapes in our healthy and biodiverse vineyards, and conduct the ferments,” she says. “Their influence is subtle. A finer texture, slightly better longevity, but they are consistent and reliable from year to year, and such an important part of the terroir of the wine.”

Withstanding the heat

Australian Riesling differs dramatically from Rieslings in other regions in subtle but important ways. “Riesling has an innate inability to withstand the often hot and dry maturation period in Australia,” says Peter Lehmann’s Schutz. “The high elevation of key regions allows the Riesling to respirate and recover well in cooler overnight conditions.”

Riesling-rich: the Clare Valley is one of the variety’s Australian hotspots This means that natural acidity is preserved, while allowing flavour expression, fruit ripeness, and citrus and floral characteristics to develop, with firm acidity and low residual sugar. Croser agrees that Australian Rieslings walk a fine line between a dry, piercingly linear white and a lush, full-bodied bruiser. “They are a unique haven between Chardonnay and the more delicate, bath powder and usually slightly sweet wines of Germany and elsewhere,” Croser says. “There is a similarity between Australian Riesling and Alsatian Riesling, although the Australian wines are more anaerobically made and generally fresher.”

Try before you buy

There is a feeling that everyone wants Australian Riesling once they try it – but the “once they try it” part can make for slow going. “When tasting with customers and consumers in both Australia and overseas, I’m amazed and thrilled at how accepted and enjoyed this wine is, even in markets not traditionally known for consuming significant volumes of white wine,” says Schutz. “And there are enjoyable styles from AU$10 to AU$100.” But, as Schutz explains, when the price increases, so does the quality. “More than other varieties, Riesling is a good example of ‘you get what you pay for,’” he argues. “At higher price points, you often get a higher intensity of natural varietal character.” Right now, Riesling claims a tiny 0.5% share of Australian wine’s total export volume, and a 0.7% share of its value. If Shiraz is the popular football player who will always draw a crowd of admirers, Riesling is the cool but shy kid who wins over – if not everyone – then anyone who bothers to talk to them, thanks to their charm and wit. “For freshness, moderate to low alcohol, and both drink now appeal and complex bottle age potential, I think Aussie Rieslings are perfectly situated to fill more glasses of international drinkers,” says Pickard of Wine Enthusiast. Australian Riesling isn’t and won’t be a mainstream mega-seller any time soon, but the number of people who produce it well and truly appreciate it is growing steadily. How many other categories of wine can claim that?