As part of the Stomp Festival here in the Canberra region Lerida offered up a vertical tasting of their Rieslings paired with some delicious German food and for $35 I could not say no. Riesling is definitely one of my top two favourite grapes. I haven't had much from them before, a 2018 example of their Cullerin Chardonnay that I don't remember much about. They've only been growing Riesling for 8 Years and only making wine from it for 5, but they should definitely keep going!
The vertical started with some Federweisser – partially fermented fresh pressed juice tapped from the tanks – this was actually the highlight of the tasting for me -like a higher acid cloudy sparkling apple juice, unsurprisingly super sweet. Shame this stuff can't be bottled due to the live yeast, because it's absolutely delicious.
The real wine began with their 2025 Cullerin Riesling and progressed through a 2023,2022 and 2021 example of the same. This is more of a mosel style than a typical Australian Riesling, very slightlly off dry – they also had the 24, 23, and 22 of their Estate Riesling which is more in line with conventional Australian Riesling as I know it, more stonefruit and floral than citrus and apple peel. Highlight of the actual wines for the day for me were the 23 Cullerin and Estate – a good balance of softened acidity beginning to show some aged characteristics.
The 21 was enjoyable but had aged very quickly according to the winemaker, well into a deep yellow after only 5 years is very surprising especially given how pale the fresh stuff is. Enjoyable but I'm not certain aged riesling is something I'll seek out super often. II liked the aged stuff more than I expected but I'm still an absolute fiend for tooth-enamel stripping acidity and fresh fruit.
All in all, for $35 including the meal, well worth the trip. I came home with a bottle of the 23 Estate Riesling as well as their 2022 Single Vineyard Viognier which should be very enjoyable, if there's a special enough occasion to open that!
by Crazy_John