2024 House of Plantagenet Angevin Riesling, Mount Barker

A fleshy, juicy rendering of the variety. Perhaps missing some zip and zing, but the general freshness, fruit character and depth here do find the word complexity laid into review. It's lime and green apple with preserved Japanese ginger and a lick of sea spray. Pleasing, earlier drinking is the motif.

93 points Special Value Mike Bennie winecompanion.com.au

House of Plantagenet Angevin Riesling from Mount Barker is a beautifully expressive cool-climate white that showcases the clarity, precision, and aging potential that make Great Southern Riesling so distinctive. Named after the Angevin kings of medieval France, this wine reflects a lineage of both elegance and strength—an aromatic, tightly structured Riesling with regional purity at its core.

Mount Barker, one of Western Australia’s oldest and most celebrated subregions, is renowned for its Riesling thanks to its elevated position, gravelly loam soils, and cool maritime climate. These conditions allow for long, slow ripening, producing grapes with intense natural acidity and refined citrus and floral characters.

Crafted by winemaker Mike Garland, the Angevin Riesling is made with a minimalist philosophy to retain vibrancy and varietal purity. The fruit is harvested in the early morning, gently pressed, and fermented at cool temperatures in stainless steel. No oak is used, allowing the site and the variety to shine in their most transparent form.

In the glass, the wine is immediately lifted with aromas of lime blossom, white flowers, green apple, and crushed quartz. The palate is bone dry, tightly coiled, and bursting with citrus zest, flinty minerality, and laser-like acidity. The finish is clean, persistent, and refreshingly austere in its youth—but the wine is built to evolve, gaining complexity and texture over 10 years or more.

Angevin Riesling is a classic example of what Mount Barker does best—pure, poised, and full of quiet intensity. It pairs beautifully with shellfish, Thai dishes, or crisp pork belly.