Product Details

The concentration of long, cool ripening sets off an Alea of dramatic presence, contrasting the depth of apple and pear with the energy of crunchy kaffir lime and lemon. Nuances of star fruit and kiwi provide an edge of exoticism. Cool season acid cut provides definition to a long and powerful finish.

Grosset’s Alea Riesling is a super wine nowadays. It’s touched by sweetness and it has an associated grapey aspect, but there are dramatic mineral and tonic characters in the mix now too, and more kick to the finish than ever. Alea Riesling now keeps some of its affability up its sleeve, and it does because it’s busy kicking rocks of quartz down the palate road. Just-sweet apple and citrus flavours pop throughout but it’s the extras that really excite. I don’t roll out the “best ever” slogan very often but I think that this is the best Grosset Alea of the 12 or so vintages that I’ve tasted.

Alea holds some additional sweetness as its canon. There's an appealing and ultra-high drinkability here. Charm in spades. Floral scents of frangipani and lemon blossom with candied ginger, lime juice, just-ripe pineapple and tonic water. Similar to taste with a slipperiness to texture that feels well metered by the building crispness of the finish. More tonic and pleasing, quinine-like bitterness in juicy lime, red apple, pineapple and gingery flavours, too. Even, balanced, cool fringes and an appealing, transparent glassiness overall.

Floral/gardenia and jasmine traces on the bouquet, which is clean and fresh and lovely. The palate is soft and fruity with perhaps a faint dab of sweetnes that leavens the acidity and any sense of austerity, rendering the wine very approachable already and quite delicious in its extreme youth. Great balance and mouth-feel. Superb riesling, already drinking well.

The 2024 Alea Riesling is velvety soft in the mouth, subtly focused and spicy. The residual sugar here holds the fruit in gently cupped hands and ushers it across the palate on downy, padded feet. This is a wine of persistence and finesse—gorgeous.