Tony Love
The Courier-Mail

ONE of nature's cruel ironies is that, right when this year's brightest, freshest pupils are released into the world, most of us don't want to know about them.

I'm talking about rieslings, by the way. Fresh, zippy, citrus tree floral and lemon and lime juicy drops from the 2010 vintage are making their way to our wine lists or store shelves. So far, many of the ones I've tasted are smart, keen to impress, perhaps a little naive but mostly pure and beautiful.

Full of zingy, crunchy, citrus-like acidity, drunk cold and meant to refresh and excite, they seem all out of sync with the season. We come home for work, bones shivering, and all we feel like is rich and warming cabernet or shiraz in front of the heater.

Riesling, however, does much more than just be a young beauty. It's one of the white varieties, along with semillon especially, as well as crisp and vital chenin blanc, Chablis-style chardonnay, and even verdelho picked young and fresh, that can do wonders after several years of bottle age.

All that mouth-watering citrus fruit that makes a young "rizza" so exciting in the mouth, slowly becomes more complex, the lime flavours turning to lime marmalade on toast, maybe with a little honey fragrance or with pine-lime and cedar-like elements.

I could go on and on about flavour development and textural complexities, but I'd excuse you for thinking I was banging on too much.

Instead, I suggest checking out some aged release rieslings from labels such as Leo Buring (2005 Leonay), which recently was judged the best wine at the Royal Queensland Wine Show. Or the 2004 Shortlist Eden Valley Riesling, which scored two trophies at the recent International Wine Challenge in London. Or, one of the perennial best in the style, the Pewsey Vale 2004 The Contours Riesling.

They all are amazingly fresh still and may mature even more under their secure screw caps for another five to 10 years. Go figure. White wines that will arguably outlive a big red. And the depth of winter is exactly the right time to drink them.

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