2024 Pooley Butchers Hill Cane Cut Riesling Half Bottle 375ml, Coal River Valley

Concentrated and heady cane-cut riesling. Mid-straw in the glass with notes of dried nectarine and apricot, citrus blossom, clover honey, grilled pineapple and mango, those wee lemon tarts, candied citrus fruits and sugarcane juice. Super heady and sweet but that acidity draws everything into line nicely, whooshing across the palate and leaving a vapour trail of candied citrus and stone fruits.

93 points Dave Brookes winecompanion.com.au

Pooley Butcher’s Hill Cane Cut Riesling is a rare and exquisite sweet wine from Tasmania that captures the purity and finesse of cool climate botrytised Riesling, crafted with precision by one of Australia’s most respected winemaking families. Based in the Coal River Valley, Pooley Wines is a third-generation, family-run estate known for their meticulous vineyard work, elegant estate bottlings and dedication to sustainable viticulture.

The Cane Cut Riesling is produced from their Butcher’s Hill vineyard, perched on a north-facing slope above the historic town of Richmond. The site is cool and breezy, with a mix of dolerite and limestone-rich soils that help produce fruit with high acidity and mineral clarity. In a cane cut approach, selected canes are severed once the grapes have reached peak ripeness, leaving the bunches to desiccate slowly on the vine. This natural drying concentrates sugar and flavour, while preserving bright acidity — critical in balancing the wine’s sweetness.

In the glass, the wine shimmers with golden hues and offers an intensely aromatic profile of candied lime peel, orange blossom, quince paste, honeycomb and a whiff of ginger. The palate is rich and silky yet beautifully balanced, with citrus curd, marmalade and baked apple flavours lifted by mouth-watering acidity and a fine, chalky finish. It’s luscious but never cloying — the hallmark of truly great sweet Riesling.

Pair it with tarte tatin, blue cheese, passionfruit pavlova, or sip it on its own as a decadent end to a meal. While delicious now, it will age gracefully for 10 to 15 years, developing layers of spice, honey and complexity.