Helm 2010 Classic Dry Riesling

The winery part of our recent southern trip was built around two premises - a visit to Bloodwood in Orange and an exploration of some of the wineries in the Canberra District, and with limited windows for sampling and tasting it's hardly surprising that we headed for places that were highly rated.

Given the district's emerging status as a producer of premium Riesling we were always going to include Helm Wines on the very short list of places to visit since I've seen comments ascribing much of that emerging status to Ken Helm's advocacy of the district and the variety, and the fact that his establishment was the first stop on the circuit meant that the bar was set very high.

Number Hughesy among the extremely impressed.

Helm 2010 Classic Dry Riesling (4.5* $28) Apples and pears rather than lemon and lime on the nose, though those elements are there underlying that top layer. Across the palate it's the same, complex expressions of the characters you associate with quality Riesling that combine to produce a floral, structured style that's almost perfectly balanced with a lengthy finish. Precision winemaking that is worth every cent. Will definitely be keeping this one in stock at the LHoC while stocks last.