Aussie Riesling Beyond The Clare

Riesling with both body and bones. This is such a good option for drinking. It tastes of lime, slate, melon and apple, with a run of chalk detectable through the finish. It works a treat. The value is high. CAMPBELL MATTINSON, the wine front

This is always a belter Riesling. Rocky Gully sits under the umbrella of Frankland Estate, one of Australia’s truly great Riesling producers and a benchmark name in the Frankland River. While Frankland Estate is celebrated for its pristine, detailed, and age-worthy expressions, Rocky Gully offers a more approachable, everyday window into the same exceptional region and philosophy. It is always a bit of a jaw-dropper when you try it considering its humble pricing.

The Rocky Gully Riesling is crafted with the same care, sourcing, and regional integrity that have long defined Frankland Estate’s reputation. It’s bright, vibrant, citrus-driven and wildly drinkable—showing off the tension, purity, and effortless charm that Frankland River Riesling delivers so well. Think of it as the fun, fruit-forward sibling to the more serious estate wines: built for immediate enjoyment but still unmistakably Frankland at heart.

Fresh, pure and with generous Riesling flavour, it never fails to hit the spot. It shows abundant blossom and stone fruit, citrus and melon on the nose. Bath salt, talc and delicate spice undertones. A nicely weighted wine with a generosity of flavour and white stone fruit. Delicate and precise on the palate with generosity of fruit, persistent length of flavour and soft texture.

A pioneering winery that led the charge to cooler climbs, Granite Hills is one of the quiet treasures of Australian wine. The Knight family has worked the Macedon Ranges for generations and this wine comes from plantings that marked the point that graziers became vignerons. The vineyards are still run the way great farmers operate- with a deep understanding of the land- and this scintillating riesling, all makrut lime leaf and crushed quartz, feels like a direct transmission from deep within these rocky ranges. (95) NICK RYAN

Picked, pressed and fermented cold at 10 degrees and aged on lees for three months; 10g/RS. A very bright green gold. An engaging bouquet of fresh lime juice, orange rind, makrut lime leaf and some spice. Gently textured with the RS judged to perfection, in that it's there, but you barely notice it. The perfect Sunday lunch 'yum cha' wine. (95) PHILIP RICH, Halliday Wine Companion

Fermented over the course of three weeks – for a riesling – in a 10 degree room and then left to ferment (or to stop fermenting, naturally) over the course of another week, in a 1 degree room. Finished wine has 10 grams/litre residual.

There’s decent intensity the the fruit flavour here but it’s mostly defined by its soft, fluid nature, and by the savoury-like notes about the edges. Yes there’s some fruit sweetness here too and it plays its role but it’s a long way from being a dominant factor, other than of course than contributing to the wine’s softness. It tastes of apples mostly, and citrus, and steel, and something almost earthen. It’s an excellent drink, inviting and complex at once. CAMPBELL MATTINSON, The Wine Front

Gently nutty smoky overtones to a citrusy aroma, hints of tealeaf, nettle, passionfruit and oyster brine too. The wine is delicate and refined, light bodied and fresh, with understatement and subtlety. A fine and delicate young riesling which has underlying complexity and seems to promise even more in future. A wine of true finesse. (95) HUON HOOKE, The Real Review

Light straw appearance. The nose is all fresh candied mandarine segments, meyer lemon, orange blossom and perhaps some roseyness and a citrus leaf cut. In the mouth the wine rolls reasonably sweetly, somewhat peach kernelly with more orange/ mandarine and lime hits. A massive juicy acid, cottees concentration. Some peach kernel and hints of vanilla to length.