One of the releases I look forward to every year is the O'Leary Walker Rieslings. Sitting the Watervale and Polish Hill River alongside one another is always a treat. But this year, the 2026 vintage hits different.
A devastating frost tore through the Polish Hill River sub-region in early November 2025. Consequently, the fruit that survived wasn't seen to be at the expected standard, resulting in no Polish Hill River being produced. So here we are looking at the Watervale in isolation.
Rest assured though, I had a handful of other Clare Valley Rieslings to create a neat tasting bracket and to keep everyone on their toes.
This is a wine I've come to expect to deliver an explosion of aromatics, but this 2026 seems quite subdued. Some Jasmine flower and lemon zest make an appearance, but they saunter from the glass quite casually, which took me by surprise. Green apples, lime cordial and a lemon sherbet tang plant themselves on the palate with a whip crack of acidity, but for a wine that has set some pretty lofty standards in the past, this Watervale is a little ho-hum. No mistaking, an ice bucket and a sweltering hot day will help this go down, but its nemesis is those predecessors that have set a high bar in years gone by.
89/100
Region: Clare Valley
