2026 Grosset Alea Riesling

Alea began with a hunch. Back in 2012, Jeffrey Grosset noticed that a 300-metre corridor of hard red rock within his Rockwood Vineyard in Watervale was producing fruit with unusually high natural acidity. Rather than blending it into Springvale, he kept it separate and took a more European approach to the winemaking. A touch of residual sugar became the key, and a new wine emerged.

The 2026 is the 17th vintage from Rockwood, a site of poor orange-red topsoil over hard red rock that seemed an unlikely home for Riesling. Jeff believed in its potential, and the wine has justified that belief every year since.

As always, the fruit is hand harvested, and biodynamically farmed.  Pretty and floral on the nose, with kaffir lime and pink grapefruit and an elegant citrus purity. The palate is textural and generous, the interplay between fruit sweetness and acidity providing real tension before a building crispness draws the finish long and clean.

A gorgeopus, floral Riesling but not without the typical Grosset power and presence. Same region, same farming, but a completely different personality.

96 points
"beautifully balanced and intense with great harmony and length, not a hair out of place, and already tasting delightful."
- Huon Hooke (The Real Review)