2017 Thorn-Clarke Riesling Mount Crawford Eden Valley 750 ml

Eden Valley’s “Outstanding” Bone-Dry Whites

In late 2017, one report rocked the wine world: Josh Raynolds’ “Australia Brings the Brawn and the Beauty.” Writing for Vinous, he says of wines coming out of Oz, “quality has never been higher than it is today,” and then, dropped a bombshell of a wake-up call: “Consumers who view these wines as all red, all big, all the time are missing out.”

Some of the most unique whites in the world are being made in the country’s Frankland River and Margaret River regions—and in the beautiful high country of Eden Valley. Wines that are beginning to out-point white Burgundy, white Bordeaux, and now, even German whites that are giving single-site Mosel and Rhine whites a run for their money. Case in point is this estate-bottled, single-vineyard 2017 Thorn-Clarke Mount Crawford Riesling from Eden Valley.

Decanter called it “Mosel-like,” but it was Australia’s leading critic James Halliday whose glowing 95-point review concludes that it: “Grows on you each time,” you taste it. That means you’ll be anticipating the next bottle. And you will. BONE-DRY, crisp, and brimming with baked apple tartlet balanced by clean citrus fruit leading to a saline finish, at $17.99 per bottle this is the definition of why Eden Valley is producing “outstanding” whites that rival the best of the Old World. Shipping included on 6.

In South Australia, smack within the Barossa zone, the Eden Valley is known for mostly Shiraz and red blends—wines that are “markedly different from those of the Barossa Valley and often distinctly Old World in style,” writes Raynolds. But it’s cool enough in Eden Valley, he notes, “to produce outstanding dry Riesling.

If you’re a fan of the high-acid, crisp, laser-focused Chardonnays from the coastal ridges of Sonoma, or a lover of mineral-rich, flinty Sancerre, or best of all, a fan of dry Austrian or German Riesling—the other-worldly bottles they tend to consumer entirely within the country—you owe it to yourself to hit “Buy,” today.

The 2017 vintage was picture perfect for Riesling with an above average wet spring and cooler than average summer, which extended the harvest season to allow the fruit to develop to a beautiful level of ripeness. This equated to an expressive single-site Thorn-Clarke from their estate Mount Crawford vineyard, perched at over 1,500 feet in elevation. The fruit was picked at night and gentle pressed within an hour of harvest. This on-the-spot pressing ensures the preservation of the delicate aromas so cherished in this aromatic fragrant grape.