"Before you start accusing me of being a sucker for any decent Riesling that’s got a few years under its belt, not all aged Riesling is that great. I’m not a fan of the kerosene aroma, for starters.

For a wine to improve and develop into something spectacular it has to be an outstanding wine to begin with.

Here’s an example.

The Jim Barry 2021 Florita (AUD $55) is a beautiful wine, a gold-ribbon score from me, but not quite of the same level as those aforementioned wines. At least, not yet. But I’m predicting that it will be if you put it away for five or so years in a cool dark place.

Soon after that 2021 in my tasting, its older sister cropped up: the 2015 Florita Cellar Release. What a sublime wine, in that beautiful stage of life between youthful freshness and fully mature complexity. I’d call it middle-aged and in the full splendour of its life. And only a tenner more expensive than its six-years-younger sibling. The 2015 is a masterpiece of finesse, a dry style that it’s tempting to observe must have been austere when it was young. Not any more.

One of the other swoon-worthy wines was another Jim Barry effort: this time the 2019 LoosenBarry Wolta Wolta Riesling, a cool AUD $120 and like the two preceding vintages of this wine, a wonderful achievement. It has a tickle of sweetness that you barely notice, a nod perhaps in the direction of Ernie Loosen, the Mosel Valley winemaker who collaborates with the Barry family on Rieslings made in each other’s countries. This one is pure Clare Valley."

Huon Hooke.