2025 First Ridge Fiano, Mudgee

Trophy for the Best White Italian Variety Wine at the 2025 Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show

Gold Medal at the 2025 Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show

Gold Medal at the 2026 Winewise Championships

SIlver at the 2025 Mudgee Wine Show

Super Fiano! What a beauty we have here from Mudgee producer First Ridge. Waltz into the room with this and you'll win a horde of friends.
Gee, this is impressive. It absolutely nails the brief. Lemon blossom, lemon zest and juice thrive with pie apple and green apple skin adding further interest. A delicate, lacy creaminess is etched into its fabric with a fine textural appeal feathered throughout. Softly spiced on close to keep you itching for more, go here.

95 points QWine reviews

This First Ridge flagship varietal delivers an initial blast of pineapple & melon-like aromas. The flavoursome palate treads a line of fulsome vibrancy, lively acid and wild ferment mid-palate grip. The cohesive and generous intensity of primary fruit freshness and briny minerality makes it an ideal summer drop. It's a lovely, refreshing Fiano to be enjoyed whilst young and vibrant, especially with seafood and chicken salads.

95 points Winelines, Gilbert Labour

This is an attractive wine full stop but there’s a whisper of something extra here. It tastes off nectarine, apple, nashi pear and something a bit woodsy and herbal, the latter giving the wine a tonic-like lift. This wine comes across as both delicate and well-flavoured at once; it’s lovely from the outset, but it improves as it opens up and breathes.

93 points Campbell Mattinson

Almond frangipane, honeydew melon, soft white stone fruit, bread roll doughiness, fresh ozone, river stones, lemon zest and a little leesy funk. Soft bitter and savoury themes with greengage, white stone fruit, chamomile, citrus zest and green pear slices. There’s a touch of palate weight for varietal signature before a refreshing and crisp finish. A step up from the 2024.

94 points Regan Drew, Vinonotebook

A dictionary definition Fiano with a sense of generosity of rip, brown skin pear, candied citrus peel, tonic water and touch of sugared almond. Waxy texture is balanced by fresh acidity, there's a little grip and pucker to the finish. A savoury element, or suggestions of such, too. Proper and good.

93 points Mike Bennie WBM Magazine

The Mudgee region is starting to prove itself as an excellent site for alternative varieties, especially those from Italy. The large collection of bling that these wines are accumulating is testimony to this. This wine was harvested at its ripest, pressed off skins, with 30% undergoing wild fermentation. The colour is a shimmering pale lemon. The nose provides an intriguing combination of minerals, pears, nuts, stone fruits and florals. There is good concentration. This is taut with good intensity and serious length. A very attractive example what Fiano can offer and a wine which should provide pleasure for the next four to six years at least. Drink to 2032.

92 points Ken Gargett for Wine Pilot, February 2026

Pale lemon yellow with a hint of lime. Floral and fragrant, lime curd and jasmine at the fore. The palate replicates the nose, white flowers, lime curd and a hint of ground ginger underneath adding depth. Stays fresh and vibrant with a zip of acidity through the medium length finish. Drink to 2030.

90 points Stuart Knox for The Real Review, January 2026

A buffet of fruit beginning with rockmelon, pineapple and golden apples. Some logans and coconut husk. Acidity soars, with an interplay of sherberty fruit and puckering apple sourness. It's a wild ride, and I would like to see it again with a bit more time in the bottle; those shrill notes should relax, and you’ll be left with greater ease to its shape.

89+ points Shanteh Wale for Halliday Wine Companion, January 2026

Fiano is a smart fit for the rocky, volcanic soils of Mudgee’s hillsides. It handles warmth beautifully while retaining acidity and developing plenty of flavour while making the most of the region’s warm days and cooler nights.

For winemaker James Manners, the First Ridge Fiano is all about the inherent aroma and texture of the variety that should be shown unadorned by winemaking practices. The grapes are picked as early as flavour accumulation allows, pressed off the skins immediately and fermented in stainless steel: 70% with a select neutral yeast strain and 30% with indigenous yeasts. The wine is bottled early, and rests for a couple of months in bottles ahead of its annual release.

The 2025 has the generosity Fiano offers without drifting into heaviness and a savoury quality that is very much part of the attraction. Salt and pepper squid with chilli and lime would be right at home here, alongside grilled prawns with garlic, spaghetti vongole, zucchini flowers stuffed with ricotta or roast cauliflower with capers and almonds. Our pick is the vongole. Sweet clams, garlic, parsley and salty cooking juices have Fiano written all over them.

About this producer

First Ridge was established in 1998 by Sydneysiders John and Helen Nicholas.

Their vineyard sits at an elevation of 500 to 520 metres on a rocky slope with a northerly and northeasterly aspect between Castlereagh Highway and the Cudgegong River, and is planted mostly to Italian grape varieties, a fitting tribute to Mudgee’s viticultural heritage. Shiraz, Merlot and Tempranillo are grown in addition to the Italian varieties, the sought-after fruit sold to other wineries in the region as well as made into small batches of wine in-house under the Mudgee Ridge Estate label.

The site is well-ventilated and well-draining, two aspects crucial for premium Mudgee fruit as despite the region’s inland location it occasionally experiences heavy summer downpours and high humidity.

The wines are made by James Manners, who believes the vineyard, without exception, is the source of quality and that his job as winemaker is to understand and identify that quality and guide it thoughtfully. He is passionate about Italian varieties and their suitability to Mudgee and is an integral part of the small collection of family wineries that make up the region. No rest for this man, whose life outside the winery is packed with bringing up two boys, cycling in the bush and being a firefighter for the local RFS.