Riesling - Rest of the New World
First of all, we got fewer entries in the Riesling category than we’ve had here over the past couple of years, and secondly, no country really took this category by the scruff of the neck.
Both of these factors are surprising. Somms love Riesling, so it should be an attractive category to enter, while the lack of consistently good winemaking is puzzling. The Kiwis have generally been talking a rather better game than they’ve delivered, while Australia, which usually does well here, recorded its lowest Gold count since 2015.
On the plus side, our tasters enjoyed the food-matching options of the medal-winning wines and, since they often had a bit of extra age on them, they were pretty impressive value for money. In other words, there are good wines here – just not as many as we’d have hoped. It’s not a bad performance, but a category that ought to be moving on to the next level seems to be rather stuck.
From The Tasting Teams
‘These New Zealand Rieslings are definitely looking at food; the slightly off-dry, food-friendly styles go well with Asian cuisine. There’s enough sweetness to balance out those light spice notes.’ Tom Forrest, team leader
‘I thought the quality was really high, with a variety of styles, and it’s nice to see a few grams of sugar to balance what’s often a searing style.’ Joshua Castle, Noble Rot
‘There were some bone-dry styles, and some that were much sweeter. I think there’s space for both of them, but more on the off-dry and dry side, rather than the more sweet.’ Immacolata Cannavo, Hakkasan Mayfair
‘We were particularly excited about the Rest of the New World flight, but I don’t think it delivered as expected. There were generally good varietal expressions, but it felt at times that they were overworked and too forced. Even though the varietal expressions were quite well defined, they didn’t have a sense of place.’ Olivier Marie, team leader
‘There’s definitely a spot for these in restaurants, but for gastro pubs it would be a tough sell.’ Daniel Eriksen, Anglian Country Inns
‘If you can get something with five years bottle of age that’s a treat. And not for silly money at all.’ Martin Lam, team leader