More about those White Wines

Rieslingfreak no 4

I remember falling in love with Riesling.

It was 2017, and somehow the Riesling gods got together and decided that Australia could have a perfect Riesling season. It didn’t matter if it was Claire Valley, Eden Valley, North Tasmania, even Margaret river. All weather conditions were perfect for Riesling.

I should probably make clear that there is a huge difference between a aged and a young Riesling and I am firmly in the young camp.

Somehow Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Bubbles or Prosecco were deemed the only hip options still in 2017, so the quality you could get to the price was amazing. I went on a journey from Pikes to Henschke, & Jim Barry to Framingham. I had somehow not found out about the lesser known Rieslingfreak.

I discovered it almost by accident, whilst touring the Barossa on a Shiraz fest. Once I had cracked the code (they like to just number the bottles- and have a varied range in styles) I discovered how much I like the No 3 (Clare valley) and No 4 (Eden valley).

John Hughes established the winery in 2009, and he only makes Riesling. (albeit in lots of different regions and styles)

This vintage I rate the No 4 just above the No 3. Enjoy.

Anthony Lockett

General Manager and Riesling advocate

Mezzacorona pinot grigio

I love finding a new wine.

I especially love finding one that is “better bang for your buck”. Usually when I do find one, it ends up going up in price over the next few years and I am left reminiscing about how cheap I used to buy them for.

I need to come clean on three things, I love going to Italy, I knew almost nothing about Italian wines when I found this wine, and that I always believe that a good wine is the wine that tastes good to you- we all have different favourites.

So, I was trying Italian wines because we have Italian catering and more hoping than believing that the wine rep would find me anything. (halfway through it was not looking good- but as I said taste is in the eye of the beholder)

Then I tasted the “Mezza”! It was subtle, sure, but the late pear complexity was a light sweetly spice, that made me think of having an Arnotts spicy fruit roll as a kid. Wow. Try again, close my eyes, this time looking for faults, but no I really like this. I normally back my judgement, but with the wine being from Trentino I went for a second opinion. Carmen runs two Italian restaurants and knows her Italian wines, and yes she is happy with my find.

If you like white wines, this one goes great with pasta (or on it’s own) and we sell it by glass or bottle :)

Anthony Lockett

General Manager and jealous of Italy