A slightly late picked harvest from the superior McKay Vineyard at Watervale, fashioned into a more generous and robust style of Clare Valley Riesling. A measure of the wine is treated to French oak ferments, unusual for Riesling, infusing the palate with toothsome complexity and creamy textural richness. Orange blossoms, grapefruit and the indulgence of lemon tart, supported by bright bickford lime and zingy fruit acidity, generous with lingering varietal powderiness and pith, a touch racy for those who can appreciate the full opulence of grand Clare Valley Riesling.

Meet the Cover Drive's girlfriend. Those who know cricket will be aware of the fielding position called Silly Mid On. Close to the batsman, requiring very good reflexes and always at risk of being struck by the ball off the bat. A delicious blend that includes Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon from the Clare Valley, along with Sauvignon Blanc from the Adelaide Hills. Verbosity, big up front, natural fruit sweetness being dominant, unmistakably varietal, a wine to be enjoyed immediately while the primary fruit is still fresh and vibrant.

Jim Barry acquired the Lodge Hill vineyard in 1977, as he was sure it would produce some of the best Riesling wines. Situated on the eastern ranges of the township of Clare, it is one of the highest vineyards in the Valley at an altitude of 480 metres, and is ideal for producing steely, mineral Rieslings, distinctive to the area. Clare Valley is one of the few regions in the world that produce this dry, delicate style with less than two grams of residual sugar per litre. The pinnacle of satisfaction, we can all be glad that Jim Barry planted Riesling.

Pure varietal whites coming out of the Clare Valley are an inspiration to all winemakers, the distinctive qualities of the region imbue the gently flavoured wines with harmonies and charming florals. Lavender Hill is named after a stand of native shrub in the hills alongside the Jim Barry wineworks. Ever since the inaugural Jim Barry release, this genteel wine has been made from the small lavender infused parcel. Perfectly suited to spritzers, the residual sweetness makes it ideal for a variety of foods, seafood platters or Thai, good desserts and fine cheese.

Clare Valley is one of Australia's most prestigious Riesling growing regions, Jim Barry are custodians of wonderful old vineyards, committed to producing quality wines through a confluence between traditional and innovative approaches to viticulture and winemaking. Bottles are set aside in the finest vintage years, for extended cellaring under the Jim Barry wineworks. Lifted aromatics of lemon and lime, toastyness, a palate of great fruit purity and depth, abundance of flavour and complexing elements, long and profuse with a fresh crisp, finish, aging gracefully with plenty of time left.

The enduring tradition of Jim Barry wines is based in no small part to the family's peerless excellence in matching grape variety with terroir. Peter Barry first tasted Assyrtiko while on holiday on the Greek island of Santorini, it reminded him of Clare Valley Riesling, albeit within a style he had never imagined. Barry imported cuttings for re planting on the illustrious Lodge Hill Vineyard. Floral aromatics, pear notes and lime, a great concentration of flavour, wet stone and minerality running the length of palate, refreshing line of acidity and lively feel, fine chalky textures.

McLaren Vale is famous for its Mediterranean clime, ideal growing conditions which yield a distinct genre of Chardonnay, gentle and fruit forward with exemplary balance. Ingoldby can boast the Midas touch with Chardonnay, fashioned to the traditional McLaren Vale style, always displaying lovely elegance and finesse, a rejuvenating wine of focus and length. The citrus, nectarine and soft creamy buttery finish makes Ingoldby the perfect Chardonnay to accompany fresh white fleshed fishes, which we should all be eating twice weekly.

Grazing pastures invariably make the most auspicious soils for winegrowing. Hugo owe their splendid provenance to a mixed farm which ran sheep and assorted cattle, dairy and tomatoes, almonds and of course grapes. Chardonnay vineyards came much later, but McLaren Vale, influenced by balmy maritime climes and populated by olive groves, is highly favourable to white grapes. Hugo choose to frame the natural charm of McLaren Vale Chardonnay with a supple touch of oak, allowing the fruit to speak for itself, a ripe peach and nectarine style, perfect for chicken caesar or salade niçoise.

Fruit from healthy vineyards specialized in yielding grapes to specification, early ripening and disease free, is selected to make the Hardy No-additives range of wines. Barrel fermentation introduces subtle oak complexity onto the palate, whilst maintaining a reductive environment (non-oxidising) for the wine through contact with sedimentery yeast lees (for heightened flavour profiles). Utilizing innovative preservatives-free vinification, Hardy have been able to craft a wine without the use of any additives, purely for the enjoyment of good Chardonnay.

Outstanding Langtons Classification. An Australian classic, a Riesling of elegance and restraint, awe inspiring fruit and exquisite length. Aficianados describe Watervale as the Riesling to drink while you await for Polish Hill to evolve. Springvale evokes the expectation of a mouth watering palate and delivers. Grosset continues to articulate Watervale more than ever.

Outstanding Langtons Classification. Few Australian wines can boast the lineage of Springvale. This is the 28th vintage in which Grosset has released a Watervale Riesling, Springvale is now entirely from the single estate vineyard. Vintage 2008 is shaping up to be the best since 2002. Fresher, more fragrant and more highly driven by intense lime juice flavour than it's Polish Hill sibling. There is also restraint here, vibrance and succulence with zesty, almost earthy and certainly minerally notes, as well as pure fruit before its lingering, dry finish.

Exceptional Langtons Classification. Grosset is an exceptionally powerful and vibrant dry Riesling, drinking beautifully whilst young, the style is unwaveringly Polish Hill. Layer after layer of flavour, impeccable balance, and mighty yet controlled power. The new MW Classification of Australian wines rates the Grosset Polish Hill as the epitome of Australian Riesling.

The pick of the Geoff Merrill harvest, a collation of Coonawarra and McLaren Vale estate vineyard parcels, treated to a luxurious course of French oak barrel ferments and ten months age. Fashioned into a finely fleshed, generously proportioned styling, its innate melon and nectarine fruit characters are wrapped in a textural linen of mineral leesyness, summer straw and toasty cashew oak. Mate Mr Merrill to the ripest cheese and finest gourmandise, ideally a gently grilled dover sole or crisp fry of the freshest whiting tempura.

McLaren Vale yields a generously proportioned yet gentler style of Chardonnay, Fox Creek is made more complex by treatments of battonage, a course of lees resting and luxurious barrel ferments. Grapes are harvested throughout the cool of early morning, retaining all the crisp, clean charm of McLaren Vale Chardonnay. The peachy varietal stonefruit characters becomes prominent, together with a noticeable mineral quality and the beginnings of honey toast as it evolves. Wonderful upon release, expect Fox Creek to be at its very best alongside fine food.

Like its Rhone Valley siblings, Adelaide Hills Viognier is a wine that drinks well on release, evolving as it grows in complexity. Named after a site which lies at the bottom of a gully in McLaren Vale, the Last Ditch was originally planted to a small block of Doradillo vines during the 19th century. In 1995 the site became repopulated by Viognier. Last Ditch is a highly auspicious wine which receives the very best barrels of d'Arenberg Viognier, it simply blossoms on the palate and continues to linger.

The hallmark of this wine, is that it's a great value drink, anywhere and at anytime with most anyone. Every Stump Jump takes the drinker on a journey of engaging varietal fruit experiences. The dimension of flavour and textural richness brought about by a complex cépage of Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc, Marsanne and Rousanne, are heightened by a level of dryness and splendid integration. The palate is very fresh and tight, restrained fruit intensity and ripeness balanced with lovely crunchy acidity keeps the finish in check.

You'll see plenty of olive trees alongside the d'Arenberg roadsides, flourishing among the vines. McLaren Vale is littered with olive groves which were planted by the first settlers. While neighbouring table grape growers consider olive trees a nuisance, local winemakers are thankful for the bittersweet nuances which the tiny green stonefruits impart to the wine. Chester Osborn determines the critical time of picking his Chardonnay, which is treated to wild ferments and lees stirring, for a rich textural wine with savoury aromas and good palate complexity.

D'Arenberg planted McLaren Vale's first Viognier, Marsanne and Roussanne. The first crop was found to be covered in a sea of tiny Money Spiders Erigoninae. Popular belief is that kindness to these active little creatures will bring good luck, hopefully in the form of money. Being nature lovers and slightly superstitious, the staff refrained from sending spiders to their death. Hence the first Roussanne was not released until the following year, by which time Money Spiders had learned their lesson and moved to bushland surrounding the vines.

The close proximity of d'Arenberg's vineyards to Gulf St. Vincent means the grapes can be stimulated by gently cooling maritime breezes. Much of McLaren Vale is planted to free draining soils underlaid by limestone, formed by the calcareous remains of local marine fauna. One such creature was the Hermit Crab, a reclusive little crustacean that to this day inhabits the cast off shells of others. McLaren Vale's first ever Marsanne Viognier is named Hermit as a reference to the region in France where the Marsanne grape dominates white wines.

Darenberg's neighbours built a dam in 1992 which collected little water throughout the first dry winter. Rains arrived the following year but the dam was still unable to do its job, bad news for McLaren Vale farmers but perfect conditions for Darenberg's low yielding vines. Dry grown Riesling makes the most engaging wine, you'll enjoy the heady yet delicate personality, it promises an even greater range of refined characters as you sip and savour alongside the freshest fishes or sophisticated gourmandise.

Crabtree is quite small, very much a boutique operation so far as production is concerned. The annual crush is a mere hundred tonnes, the tiny winery is at full capacity every vintage, and the wines are very limited in production. The cellar door is heritage listed and dates back to 1849 when the Clare Valley was first settled. Adolf Glaetzer was largely responsible for the planting of the vineyards as they exist today. Best known for his fresh fruit and vegetables, his descendants have made the Glaetzer name synonymous with Australian winemaking.

Valley Clare is internationally renowned for Riesling, many of the region's finest vineyards are at Watervale. This distinguished hamlet has a population of only two hundred and fifty, a single shop and one garage, a pub and a school, a library, two churches and five distinguished wineries. Like many of the world's great wine growing appellations, Watervale has a name and global reach that belies its tiny size. Crabtree is an exquisitely balanced Riesling with an intensity of complex varietal characters, fine mineral acidity and lovely persistence of fruit.

Chenin Blanc has been Coriole's flagship white since 1982, a pure varietal wine that couldn't be any fresher. Beautifully aromatic, it has great fruit concentration and shows an outstanding ability to age, highly suited to the moderately warmer climes of Coriole's vineyard at McLaren Vale. Lively, spirited tropical fruit characters are jumping out of the bottle, so get those flatheads frying, forget the serious analysis and just enjoy a crisp, clean bottle of fun.

A luxury Chardonnay crafted at one of the Mclaren Vale's oldest operating wineries. Originally intended for labelling under one of Australia's most internationally recognized brands and destined for consumption by the most discerning Chardonnay enthusiasts. An intensely flavoured wine with a complex and engaging palate that belies its packaging and pricepoint, it carries the essential expression of premium McLaren Vale fruit, fashioned to an extravagant vinification and cellared at the winery for extended ageing and development.

Verdelho originated in Portugal and has acclimatized itself well to the McLaren Vale's maritime climes. One of the very first varietals planted in McLaren Vale circa 1825, Verdelho is a beguiling variety, its generous and vibrant characters evoke an array of stylistic influences, making it a highly fashionable wine with wide versatility. Chapel Hill showcases the three distinct flavour profiles of Verdelho, grassy, pungent characters, tropical fruit flavours and beautifully scented honeysuckle blossom perfumes.

Best Riesling in the World, Best Australia New Zealand Riesling & Best Museum Class Riesling Canberra International Riesling Challenge. From grapes grown to vines which were the source of Wolf Blass most memorable Rieslings. An exclusively estate grown wine, in the dry Clare Valley style, almost untouched by the winemaker throughout the vinification process.

There's a place in McLaren Vale's Seaview terraces, where Ben Lacey grafted Fiano on to a parcel of twenty five year old Chardonnay rootstock. A wonderful idea when you consider that the clonal cocktails are yielding a magnificently ripe early harvest of fruit which begets a sensationally complex wine. Whole bunch pressed into a choice of vinification on skins or good old fashioned, wild indigenous ferments in well seasoned oak. Batches remain on sedimentery gross lees until June, followed by assemblage into a precious, multi dimensional small batch wine of a mere 165 dozen bottles.

Bird In Hand established vines on a choice piece of terroir among the undulating idylls of Valley Clare, to secure harvests of Riesling in a very different style to the crisp high altitudes fruit grown at Woodside. Hand picked grapes are whole bunch pressed to extract nothing but the cleanest free run juices, a pure and pristine Riesling wine of striking elegance. Floral and fragrant with hints of lanolin, jasmine and quartz, the quintessential Clare Valley hallmarks of heady lime and flinty limestone, crisp and delicate with beautiful citrus acidity.

McLaren Vale makes august Chardonnay wines, multi dimensional, seamless and affable. Beresford planted their rootstock in the 1960s and now host some of the most auspicious Chardonnay vines. Barrel fermented in a high proportion of new French oak and treated to six months on yeast lees sediments to achieve palate flavour and textural richness. Lifted crème brulee, nectarine and peach, its luxurious French vanilla toastyness and sound weight of fruit makes Beresford the Chardonnay of choice to match white meats and roast game.

Annies Lane can boast a long and distinguished history of conspicuous winemaking which dates back to 1863. There really was an Annie, she lived long ago, her legacy vines have been cultivated on both sides of her eponymous boulevard for a century and a half. To this day, mother nature continues to deliver a bounty of the finest fruit to Annie's Lane every year. A mostly Semillon wine with a component of Sauvignon Blanc, sourced from estate Clare Valley vineyards, fashioned into a refreshing and stylish wine at the Annies Lane wineworks.

Branded in earlier years under the historic Quelltaler label, Annie's Lane is an exuberant Riesling vinified from fruit grown to distinguished Clare Valley sites, including the famous Carlsfield and Sevenhill vineyards. Carlsfield was planted in 1935 and produces fruit with ripe citrus characters, whilst Sevenhill yields Riesling of finesse and dominant steely qualities. A refreshing white wine, enjoy Annie's Lane alongside chilli crabs or roasted loin of pork, the freshest seafood and all fine faire.

Pure Clare Valley Chardonnay, some of it from blocks which can trace a heritage back to the original Quelltaler vineyards, the first Aussie wine ever formally served to the UK House of Commons! Annie's Lane recounts the legend of a local lass who operated a mobile canteen in Valley Clare, providing sandwiches and warm drinks to harvesters and pruners working in the vineyard. She is remembered today in the enduring traditions of a generously proportioned Chardonnay that's brimming with fresh stonefruit orchard flavours.