With a name like Rieslingfreak, you know what you’re getting. Winemaker John Hughes is single-minded in his pursuit of greatness with the grape.

He makes a stunning range of Rieslings from across South Australia, and he’s collected the accolades to match, regularly placing multiple wines in Wine Advocate’s top five of the vintage. He’s also earned five “red” stars from Halliday Wine Companion, which called him “one of the finest winemakers of the variety.” They also declared that “the exacting nature of the project is writ large in precise, evocative white wines that vibrate with purity and tension, built not only for early consumption but long-haul cellaring.”

Yet of his brilliant bottlings, the #2 stands out.

That’s because it’s sourced from the Polish Hill River area of the Clare Valley. There’s no more coveted area to grow the grape in Australia. The soils there are young by Aussie standards—more shales, slates, and sandstones that mimic some of the great regions in Germany and Austria—and there is plenty of wind, which promotes thick skins and intense character.

2023 was a later-ripening vintage, which suits Riesling’s character perfectly, and Hughes started picking right around the date that harvest concluded the year before. That shows in the tension and energy in the wine, which is only a remarkable 11.5% alcohol for as intense as it is. Like Australia’s other top bottlings, it’ll age beautifully for at least a decade.

About Clare Valley