One of the endless COVID-related cancellations this year was the public exhibitors tasting for the Sydney Royal Wine Show, which is one of the best tastings on the calendar. For the uninitiated, it’s a hall, with every single one of the thousands of wines entered into the show open for tasting.

It’s a smorgasbord.

Strangely, only a few hundred people go (at most), so often it’s just me, desperately trying to taste oceans of wine in a small amount of time.

What I like to do is check in on wines I don’t get sent, and lots of unreleased goodies – like Penfolds bit and pieces, export shit, wines where the winemaker now hates me because of low scores or show ponies that are never sent as samples. Couple that with brand-new releases of all sorts of wines, and yeah, it’s a smorgasbord!

Often, several museum release vintages of Pewsey Vale’s excellent Contours Riesling are open and I always appreciate a check-in, just because I like the wines.

This Pewsey Vale Museum Release Contours Riesling 2010 was a sample, and is one of the older vintages I’ve had recently. It’s a lovely wine too.

Already quite mature, this Riesling is even a bit forward. Riper, and with more volume than the Contours norm. You can taste the extra width, now mingling with the toast and lanolin of bottle age to make this feel all golden and nutty. The acidity is still firm though, which is something of a fullstop after all that aromatic generosity.

It’s a big mouthful of dry Riesling this, with quite a presence. Maybe not as smashable as some vintages, but a white wine with presence.

I like.

Pewsey Vale Museum Release Contours Riesling 2010. Best drinking: ready to go now. No chance it will fall over, but in the drinking plateau, where it will stay for at least another decade. 18/20, 93/100. 13%, $51. Pewsey Vale website. Would I buy it? I’d share a bottle.