It is sheer coincidence, of course, but yesterday I attended (most of) a very interesting MasterClass conducted by Jeffrey Grosset and Andrew Mitchell, featuring Clare Valley Rieslings from 2002 and 2012. On the same day, news came that Angove Family Winemakers’ 2006 Vineyard Select Clare Valley Riesling won the Trophy for Champion White Wine of Show at the International Wine Challenge in London. To do so it had to prevail over the top rieslings from 25 other countries that had already been singled out as the best from the country concerned. Thus, the Angove wine won the Clare Valley Riesling Trophy, the Australian Riesling Trophy, the Australian White Wine Trophy, and the International Riesling Trophy.
Without in any way detracting from Angove’s achievement, nor suggesting that other international shows such as that of Decanter and the International Wine and Spirit Competition do anything different, the ‘World’s Best’ carries with it an implication that all the great wines of a given variety are entered in the competition, and of course that’s not the case.
The other take home message from the success is the transformation Australian riesling makes once given five or six years bottle age. At the Clare MasterClass the ‘02s took that perspective out 10 years, with more than a few still looking incredibly youthful, more of which anon.
Finally, Angove Family Winemaker’s 2008 Vineyard Select Clare Valley Riesling is currently on sale with an RRP of $25, and can be found in good wine retailers across Australia, or through www.angove.com.au
