Riesling can be powerful and mouth-filling or intensely delicate with a lively backbone of acidity. A little botrytis and even barrel fermentation can add weight, complexity and texture.
BEST VALUE
$17
Four stars (out of five)
Good value
Fragrant with nuances of honey, apricot and lime, concentrated with hints of toast, marmalade, and mandarin peel, powerful with a well-balanced, lively, dryish finish.
$24
Four stars
Good value
A delicate wine but with fruit weight, sweetness and flavour - lime, nectarine, apple and grapefruit, good balance and texture, and a long, crisp, dry finish. Delicious now, but will develop with another couple of years' bottle age.
$19
Three and a half stars
Good value
Oozing lime, lemon and a touch of mandarin, this is intense, textural and dry, but with enough flesh on its bones to prevent it being mean. With a crisp, steely dry finish, it's best with food.
$25
Three and a half stars
Average value
A charming wine, hinting of lime, lemon and sweet pink grapefruit, with suggestions of buttered toast and marmalade, textural, tight and youthful, but with a lively, crisp dry finish. Well worth allowing it a year or two's bottle age to show its potential.
$32
Four and a half stars
Good value
A complex wine suggesting nectarines, tropical fruit, exotic herbs, apricot, honey, orange rind and a nuance of mineral, this is textural and complex with intense flavours and a well balanced, crisp, but not assertive, finish.
$30
Four stars
Average value
Initially zesty with hints of mineral, fresh lime and lemon, the following day this developed into a delicious wine oozing ripe tropical fruit - ripe peach and mango, but with a dry textural crisp finish. Give it the best part of a year to show its best.
ANOTHER GLASS
Saint Clair Marlborough Gruner Veltiner 2012
$21.50
Three and a half stars
Average value
Gruner Veltiner, a white grape variety from Austria, is an interesting new variety that appears to do very well in New Zealand. This hints of peaches and golden kiwi, but has weight and power in the mouth with a fresh clean finish. Versatile with food or by itself.
