Crawford River needs little introduction to anyone who takes Australian Riesling seriously. John and Catherine Thomson planted the first vines on their family's grazing property in far south-west Victoria in 1975, well outside any established wine region, on the strength of the site's geological potential alone. That instinct has been vindicated many times over. Daughter Belinda, trained across Marlborough, Bordeaux, Tuscany and the Nahe, has run the estate since 2012.
The wines come from old blocks on two gentle ridges in what is now the Henty GI, one of the least-known wine regions in the country. Crawford River is the reason it is known at all.
2025 delivered exactly what a dry, concentrated season can when the site is right and the farming is sound. Spring frost cut yields in the Strata block significantly, but the fruit that came through was dense and defined. Belinda fermented whole cluster in stainless steel, held the wine eight weeks on lees, and bottled in September 2025.
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