A Dan Murphy’s home brand just won Best Riesling at the Royal Queensland Wine Show
Mockingbird Hill Dr Bain Clare Valley Riesling 2024 won Best Riesling at the Royal Queensland Wine Show.
Mockingbird Hill Dr Bain Clare Valley Riesling 2024
$25, 11.5% alcohol, screwcap, Clare Valley.
There were 60 rieslings entered into the riesling category of the Royal Queensland Wine Show last week. This Clare Valley Riesling – under the name Mockingbird Hill Dr Bain Clare Valley Riesling 2024 – came out top.
It’s a wine made by the Pinnacle Drinks people, which means that it’s a wine made by and for Dan Murphy’s and BWS stores. So effectively a home brand wine has beaten the top dogs (or at least, those who entered) to take out the best riesling award at one of Australia’s premier wine shows.
That was enough for me to track down a bottle.
There’s a ‘basic’ or ‘regional selection’ Mockingbird Hill riesling, which retails for $12. The award-winning wine is $25, and carries the Dr Bain name. Dr J. W. D. Bain is believed to have planted some of the first grape vines in the Clare Valley, way back when. In any case, if you see a Mockingbird Hill riesling for $12 it’s likely that it’s not the award-winning wine.
We’re talking here about a riesling from the famed Watervale sub-region of the Clare Valley.
It’s a piercing wine, and a textural one, and a lengthy one. It’s the kind of riesling that provoked the term “line and length”. It tastes of metal, lime, lime leaf, bath salts and something floral, like lavender talc. It has a citrus-sorbet aspect; it’s ultra lively but it has that textural thing going on. I think that’s what it won; it’s not a one-trick pony. It’s citrussy side is piercing and persistent but it also has the texture to give it some presence.
I personally wouldn’t drink it right now, and not just because it’s winter. It needs another six months in the bottle to soften a fraction. It’s be excellent in summer. So pop this Mockingbird Hill Dr Bain Clare Valley Riesling 2024 on the Xmas/summer holidays wish list.
93 points.
