2025 Helm Premium Riesling, Canberra District

This is wow factor stuff. Potent and inwardly concentrated, lemon-lime essence, green apple, a lick of ginger tea, some faint honeyed notes, though the wine feels decidedly dry. Bold flavours, so much character, a faint wild honey note providing apparent sweetness but also that wild honey bitterness. It sizzles with its energy, mops the palate clean after each sip and yet lingers with sweet spice and preserved lemon characters. Striking wine. Sensational.

96 points Mike Bennie winecompanion.com.au

The Helm Premium Riesling from the Canberra District is one of Australia’s benchmark Rieslings, crafted by Ken Helm, a true pioneer of the variety in this region. Established in 1973, Helm Wines has built its reputation on producing finely tuned Rieslings that highlight the cool-climate elegance of the Canberra District, a region that straddles New South Wales and the ACT. The Premium Riesling sits at the top of the range, sourced from some of the oldest vines in the district, including the historic 1914-planted vineyard at Murrumbateman.

The Canberra District’s climate is ideal for Riesling, with its high altitude, warm days, and cold nights ensuring slow ripening and excellent flavour development while preserving bright natural acidity. Grapes are handpicked at optimal ripeness, then whole-bunch pressed and fermented at cool temperatures in stainless steel to retain purity and aromatic intensity. Ken Helm’s approach is one of precision and restraint, crafting wines with clarity and remarkable ageing potential.

In the glass, the wine is pale straw with green hues. The nose is vibrant and lifted, offering lime zest, lemon blossom and green apple alongside notes of jasmine, wet slate and a faint mineral edge. The palate is bone-dry, taut and finely structured, with intense citrus and orchard fruit flavours carried by zesty acidity. A mineral core runs through the wine, leading to a long, focused finish that is both refreshing and elegant.

Food pairings reflect its crispness and precision: fresh oysters, kingfish sashimi, Thai green curry, or vegetarian dishes such as goat’s cheese tart, zucchini fritters or green papaya salad. While beautiful young, this Riesling has outstanding cellaring potential of 15 to 20 years, developing honeyed, toasty and kerosene-like complexity while maintaining freshness.