2024 Crawford River Riesling

Highly Rated
One of the leading Riesling producers in the country, in typically scintillating form.

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Description

This is one of those touchstone wines that stands at the front of the pack for Australian Riesling.

It comes from the iconic Crawford River winery with Belinda Thomson now crafting some of the finest Rieslings in the land from her family estate.

This is the wine they are best known for, and this release is once again outstanding. A wine renowned for it's blistering intensity and incredible longevity, this is simply a must try for any Riesling fan!

With an incredible track record for consistency, this is a benchmark for Australian Riesling, to be sure.

97 points
"A very bright green gold. Smells like the essence of perfectly ripened lemon and lime, jasmine and frangipani together with a little apple blossom. Gently textured, this flows mellifluously across the palate, finishing saline, chalky and long. Just a touch richer than the '23 and a beautiful wine to drink now and over the next eight to 10 years at least."
- Philip Rich (Halliday Wine Companion)

97 points - "A very bright green gold. Smells like the essence of perfectly ripened lemon and lime, jasmine and frangipani together with a little apple blossom. Gently textured, this flows mellifluously across the palate, finishing saline, chalky and long. Just a touch richer than the '23 and a beautiful wine to drink now and over the next eight to 10 years at least." - Philip Rich )Halliday Wine Companion)

94 points - "Flesh and cut, a duo of textures that make for complexity and interest. Concentration of lime and red apple, some light honey almond notes, a touch of sugared almond perhaps with light fennel and dill notes in the mix. It’s got some saline shimmer through it too, perhaps even some pleasing white balsamic lift to it all too. Attractive, a slightly wilder edge, with savouriness in the mix. Great, proper riesling and drinks with charm and interest, to be drunk younger with all that amplitude in this release." - Mike Bennie (The Wine Front)

Customer Reviews

“The 2023/4 season was a vigneron’s dream vintage, with pristine fruit enabling wonderful results in the winery. The season provided even growing conditions, resulting in wines of great purity, definition, and drive.”
— Belinda Thomson, Vigneron.

Season

The 2023/24 vintage was exceptional, with minimal disease pressure ensuring immaculate fruit in plentiful quantity. A somewhat dry start to spring was alleviated by timely rainfall at the end of November, leading to a fabulous flowering across the vineyard—especially for Riesling.

Short, heavy rainfall at the end of December and early January set the vineyard up well for the dry six weeks that followed. Veraison in mid-February progressed smoothly, and nets were applied earlier than usual. Picking began on March 21, the earliest start in years. The fruit throughout harvest was immaculate, and the Riesling yield was plentiful—a welcome relief after several low-yielding seasons.

Winery

The Riesling was made using whole-cluster fruit at the press. After a natural settling, spontaneous fermentation ensued. It was cool-fermented to dryness in 100% stainless steel. The wine spent approximately eight weeks on lees before racking and blending. Bottled in September 2024.
Screwcap closure.

Vineyard

The fruit for this Riesling comes from the vineyard’s oldest blocks. The first Riesling plantings, established in 1975/76, are located on two gentle ridges with a NNW aspect and a gravelly, ironstone-rich, free-draining clay loam soil composition. A third block, planted in 1977, has a WNW aspect, less gravel, more sandy loam, and is closer to its limestone base.

The combination of these soils results in white floral aromatics and layers of mineral-driven texture on the palate. The Riesling clone is G198.

Winemaker’s Notes

This wine is still young and tightly coiled, showing delicate poise and immense promise. Talc and powdery chalk drive the front palate, with subtle hints of white florals and apple blossom that will evolve over time. The fruit weight delivers both power and elegance, with pronounced minerality and textural definition from start to finish.

Pure, steely, and fine—if drinking upon release, we recommend decanting. A stunning vintage.

Price Bracket $51 to $100
Type White
Body Medium Bodied
Variety Riesling
Country Australia
Region Henty
Australian State VIC
Feature High Score
Iconic
Women in Wine
Reviewed By Halliday wine Companion
The Wine Front
Critic Score 97
94
Size 750ml
Vintage 2024
Closure Screw Cap

Crawford River

Crawford River is very much a family operation. The talented Thomson clan have been producing wine from their beautiful home vineyard since 1985.

The Bordeaux varieties Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc thrive on the estate, but it's Riesling that they are most famous for.

They produce a range of styles of varying ages that are outstanding. Many consider them as one of the country's premier producers of the noble variety.

These are wines of purity and elegance. Small-batch, family-owned, traditional winemaking and good, honest farming is at the core of everything Crawford River does.

Belinda and John Thomson - Henty, VIC Crawford River

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