2020 Grosset Wines Alea Riesling Clare Valley Australia 750 ml

On his home shores, Jeffrey Grosset is a living legend—one of a tiny handful of Australia’s top winemakers and the best producer of Riesling on the continent. 

With tiny cellar-door allocations and a long list of top restaurants who would love to put his wines on their lists, they’re some of the toughest in the world to source—and more than deliver on the hype.

James Halliday, Australia’s Robert Parker, declared that “Grosset wears the unchallenged mantle of Australia's foremost riesling maker” and his 98-point Alea is a prime example of his genius. With an electric balance between floral aromas, succulent orchard fruit, and a jolt of mineral-driven acidity, it’s the clear result of a master at work.

Despite the intense demand for his wines, they remain priced with outrageous modesty. It’s hard to think of many near-perfect whites that are available for under $40, and the Alea’s true peers are the $100+ Grosses Gewächs Rieslings of the Rheinhessen, in Germany.

Decanter praised the wine’s “perfect balance of flavour and texture” in their 98-point review—which is spot-on. The nose is beautifully taut, with aromas of lemon and lime blossoms, bright white peaches, lemongrass, and chalk. Once the wine hits your tongue, there’s a blast of intensely focused, slightly sweet fruit, led by nectarines and satsumas, followed by a wave of minerality that’s like drinking from an alpine spring.

The Alea bottling comes from Grosset’s Rockwood Vineyard, in the higher-altitude northeastern corner of the Watervale district, long recognized as a prime spot for Riesling in Australia’s Clare Valley. It’s one of Grosset’s most challenging vineyards to farm because of its hard, red rock topsoils, but the same qualities that made it difficult to plant force the vines’ roots deep into the earth in search of moisture—and they bring back more flavor in return.

He’s known as an obsessive farmer, who spent years adjusting his farming in the Alea plot, tweaking green-harvesting, bud-count, and canopy management to make sure the grapes have perfect balance when they get to the winery. Costs are immaterial, the only goal is the finest possible finished wine. In true Grosset fashion, those carefully tended grapes are gently pressed and then fermented in stainless steel to enhance the wine’s natural vibrancy.

With the Alea, he chooses to leave a smidge of sugar to balance the wine’s natural acidity, inspired by the similarities of the wine to the legendary bottles of Germany. Halliday described this decision as requiring “truly rocket science precision” to achieve the balance that Grosset desires in the wine. Thankfully, we’re in the hands of a master.