I’ve tried my hardest to get back to the whites, but alas my love for red gets me every time! Luckily I had a delicious white during the week this week and I thought it was definitely worth sharing. It was a wine that came highly recommended before I tried it, unlike the other wines that I’ve reviewed which have been 100% Ella approved only before trying. So you know it has to be good now, given that a whole two wine lovers have said it is good, right?

It comes highly recommended

I’m normally not a huge fan of Riesling as I’ve had some overly sweet ones in the past, and so I tend to choose other white wines when I’m picking for myself. As you know, I’m not a huge white wine drinker, so I tend to feel a little less confident when picking one that I might like. I really don’t know what my favourite variety is, nor do I really have a handle of brands that I prefer. I guess knowing which wines you like of a type come with experience, and a little more trial and error. I’ve done this with red, but never quite undertaken this with white wine. So I guess there will be a bit of a homework task for me (what a shame)!

To pair with a midweek dinner of dumplings, my partner’s dad got out a bottle of Riesling, and said “this is the best Riesling in Australia.” Well, I don’t know about all of you, but a review like that really peaked my interest, and so for the benefit of my readers, naturally I had to try it to see if this was warranted. Purely for research purposes of course.

The wine I’m reviewing this week is the Petaluma 2014 Riesling. This wine definitely lived up to the label my partners dad gave it. It was probably the best Riesling I’ve ever had, and although I haven’t tasted every Riesling in Australia, I could say out of those I’ve surveyed it was. What I loved about it first was the colour. It was bright and vibrant, not like other Riesling I’ve had which is quite light and translucent in colour. I don’t know if this is just the types I’ve tried before, but this wine had a darker colour than others, more like a chardonnay (without the classic chardonnay taste).

What to enjoy it with

I find we’ve been drinking more white wine as the weather has been getting warmer. Also we’ve eaten more Chinese and Vietnamese which calls for it! So this week I was down the Gold Coast as my partner was down for work, and we decided to order in (who doesn’t love a sneaky take out and wine night during the week?). This went perfectly with Asian food, so well that it disappeared very quickly!

Why I loved it

The taste was awesome! It was a lot heavier than other Rieslings that I’ve tried in its flavours. This probably came from the age. The wine was quite dry, which I liked as it wasn’t sweet like other Riesling that I’ve tried.

It was the right balance between dry and sweet, and the flavour lingers. Rather than being fruity I’d say it was more like citrus and zingy. Regardless, this wine went perfectly with Asian food, and would also go with chicken or pork.

Final verdict

So there you have it, a great Riesling that comes highly recommended. If you like your Riesling soft and sweet, I’d try another with a lighter colour and palate. But if you like them punchier and heavy this one is great.