2026 Forest Hill Block 2 Riesling, Mount Barker

Here’s a wine that captures the vineyard site. Planted dry-grown in 1975, it delivers incredibly intense and powerful aromas of lemon and lime, with spicy, chalky, basalt characters. The palate is quite textured, with really fine, precise acidity holding it through to an extended finish. A distinctive wine, with crunchy, quartz-like characters providing such a compelling addition to the palate. Drink to 2038.

95 points Ray Jordan Wine Review 2027

Brilliant light yellow in the glass, with a spicy, dry grass-hay bouquet with a smoky hint of either reduction or very subtle barrel work, the palate bright and crisp with clean lines and lovely purity. A touch of lemon-butter. The acidity is seamless and the wine finishes dry without any austerity. 5.4 g/l residual sugar. Drink to 2038.

93 points Huon Hooke for The Real Review, September 2026

Forest Hill’s Block 2 was planted in 1975 and it’s dry-grown organically farmed Riesling vines are lined northeast to southwest, standing in gravelly loams over clay subsoils.

This wine comes from the overall dry and mild 2026 season, with grapes picked across three separate days. The pressed juice was cold settled and racked to mostly stainless steel, with 20% going into Austrian oak foudre for fermentation with some solids, the fermented wine resting on lees until bottling.

About this producer

Forest Hill Vineyard is a family-owned business established in 1965 by Betty and Tony Pearse with guidance from the WA Department of Agricultural. It was the first commercial vineyard to planted in the Great Southern, laying foundations for a region that is today widely recognised for wines of elegance and purity. The current owners have been custodians of the historic property since 1996.

Located in the subregion of Mount Barker, the vineyard sits at 220m to 240m altitude approximately 40km from the coast. This part of the Great Southern enjoys long, temperate growing seasons with significant diurnal temperature variations, and sits at the northern edge of the Nornalup geological complex, a mix of ancient rock types that over time have weathered into deep laterite blankets, leaving ironstone gravel as the dominant soil type across the vineyard. Clay content varies from one block to another, alongside differing concentrations of gravel and loam.

Many of the original dry-grown vines planted in the 1960s continue to thrive today and remain the foundation of the wines produced. New vines are propagated from this heritage and complimented by more recent clonal material. The property is farmed with organic principals and with practical aspects of regenerative farming such as incorporation of grazing livestock, multi-species cover crops and mulch/compost applications: happy vines make good wines.