One of Victoria's Great Riesling Secrets

This is exactly the sort of wine that makes wine retail exciting.

A producer many people haven't heard of. An unusual region. A tiny vineyard. And serious quality.

95+ Points – Halliday Wine Companion

93 Points – The Wine Front

Otway Hinterland, Victoria

RRP $39 a bottle

One of Victoria's Great Riesling Secrets – 95+ Halliday Points for $39

Here's a producer that deserves far more attention.

Tucked away in the extraordinarily cool Otway Hinterland, around 30km beyond the Geelong GI, Heroes Vineyard is quietly producing some seriously exciting wines.

And Halliday reviewer Philip Rich has taken notice.

After visiting the vineyard and tasting through the 2024 releases, Rich said he was “blown away by the entire range of 2024s”, singling out the Rieslings alongside Heroes' Chardonnay and exceptional Pinot Noir as wines worth seeking out.

The 2024 Heroes Vineyard Dry Riesling received:

95+ Points – Halliday Wine Companion
93 Points – The Wine Front

And when you look at what sits underneath the wine, those scores make complete sense.

Unirrigated vineyard.
Planted in 1999.
Tiny yields.
Wild fermentation.
No fining.
11.5% alcohol.
Only 180 cases produced.

At RRP $39, this is a brilliant discovery.

95+ Points – Halliday Wine Companion

95+ Points – Philip Rich, Halliday Wine Companion

Tasting Notes

The 2024 Heroes Dry Riesling is beautifully aromatic and precise, showing:

• Meyer lemon
• Fresh lime
• Lime zest
• Grapefruit
• Jasmine
• Orange blossom
• White flowers
• Green apple
• Citrus pith
• Wet stone
• Fine mineral notes
• Delicate saline characters
• Fine natural acidity

The aromatics are beautifully delicate rather than overpowering.

Meyer lemon and lime zest provide the citrus core, while jasmine and orange blossom bring a gorgeous floral dimension.

Then the palate changes gear.

There's texture here.

The acidity is fine rather than aggressive, creating a wine that's simultaneously delicate, energetic and beautifully composed.

This isn't simply acid-driven Riesling.

There's genuine palate presence.

An Unirrigated Vineyard Planted in 1999

This is where Heroes becomes particularly interesting.

The original Heroes Vineyard was planted in:

1999

And the Riesling comes from this original 10-acre Otway Hinterland site.

Most importantly:

The vineyard isn't irrigated.

That's unusual in modern Australian viticulture.

The vines have had to establish themselves within the site and work with the natural rainfall patterns of the Otway Hinterland.

When owner and winemaker James Thomas first discovered the vineyard in 2016, one of the things that struck him was how naturally balanced the unirrigated vines appeared.

That balance has become fundamental to the Heroes story.

Sandstone, Siltstone & Sandy Clay

The vineyard geology is fascinating.

The Riesling grows in:

Tertiary sandstone and siltstone

with:

Sandy clay loams

over:

Highly penetrable clay and weathered sandstone.

That's a very different environment from the classic slate, limestone or terra rossa associations many people have with Riesling.

And it's another reason this wine deserves attention.

Heroes isn't trying to reproduce Clare Valley Riesling in Victoria.

It's expressing its own site.

Welcome to the Otway Hinterland

The climate is one of the most fascinating parts of the Heroes story.

Although the vineyard sits only around 30km outside the Geelong GI, it's substantially cooler and receives considerably more rainfall.

The nearby Otway hills play a major role.

James Thomas explains that cloud cover created by the hills often lingers into the day, reducing the intensity of Australia's sunshine and encouraging slow, even ripening.

And here's perhaps the best illustration of just how cool the site is.

Heroes once had Shiraz planted.

After six years of struggling to get the fruit beyond approximately 12.5% potential alcohol—or sometimes ripen properly at all—Thomas grafted the Shiraz across to Pinot Noir.

That's seriously cool Australian wine country.

And for Riesling?

That's incredibly exciting.

Tiny Yields

The 2024 Riesling was harvested on:

21 March 2024

with yields of only:

1.7kg per vine

or approximately:

1.9 tonnes per acre.

Those are seriously low yields.

And when you've got an unirrigated vineyard producing fruit at those levels, there's potential for enormous concentration without sacrificing freshness.

That's exactly what the Halliday review suggests.

There's delicacy and perfume—but there's also enough fruit intensity and texture to balance the acidity.

Wild Fermented

The winemaking is beautifully simple.

The 2024 Riesling was:

Wild fermented

in:

Stainless steel.

That's exactly what you want here.

No oak.

No unnecessary winemaking overlay.

No attempt to turn Riesling into something it isn't.

The stainless steel protects the wine's beautiful:

Citrus • Florals • Freshness • Purity

while spontaneous fermentation adds another layer of individuality.

Bottled Without Fining

The wine was bottled in:

September 2024

and importantly:

Without fining.

Again, it tells you something about James Thomas' approach.

This isn't highly processed commercial Riesling.

There's a desire to retain as much of the vineyard's personality as possible.

The result is a Riesling with a little more texture and personality than the ultra-clinical style sometimes associated with the variety.

Only 180 Cases Made

Here's the problem.

There isn't much.

Total production of the 2024 Heroes Vineyard Dry Riesling was just:

180 cases.

That's tiny.

Heroes itself is a tiny operation, with the flagship wines coming entirely from the original 10-acre vineyard.

This isn't a wine you'll find stacked in supermarkets.

It's genuinely small-production, artisan Australian Riesling.

Who Is James Thomas?

The story of Heroes Vineyard is fantastic.

James Thomas originally came from the UK and worked in the yachting industry, delivering luxury boats around the Mediterranean and Caribbean.

Then came Australia.

A surfing trip took him around the Australian coastline, with occasional vineyard work helping pay for petrol along the way.

Eventually, in 2016, he discovered the Heroes vineyard almost by accident.

He was immediately struck by the balance of the mature, unirrigated vines.

He bought the property.

And Heroes was born.

Nearly a decade later, Halliday's Philip Rich visited the property.

His response?

He was blown away by the 2024 range.

That's quite a journey.

One of Halliday's Unsung Heroes

Philip Rich went further than simply giving the wines big scores.

Halliday Wine Companion ran a feature on James Thomas titled:

“Unsung Hero: Why Philip Rich thinks James Thomas' Heroes is one to watch”

Rich describes a producer who had largely flown under the radar despite making wine in the Otways for almost a decade.

And look at the 2024 results:

2024 Heroes Pinot Noir – 97 Points Halliday

2024 Heroes Chardonnay – 96 Points Halliday

2024 Heroes Dry Riesling – 95+ Points Halliday

2024 Heroes Sauvignon Blanc – 95 Points Halliday

That's an extraordinary range.

Heroes isn't simply a Riesling producer.

This is a small Victorian estate worth watching very closely.

Even Brae Has Taken Notice

There's another interesting clue about the quality here.

Heroes is located only around 10 minutes from Brae, one of Australia's most celebrated restaurants.

And Halliday notes that Brae champions the Heroes wines.

That's significant.

Small producers like Heroes often build their reputation in exactly this way:

Great vineyard.

Tiny production.

Top restaurants.

Sommelier interest.

Then eventually, the wider wine-buying public catches up.

Heroes feels like it's right at that point now.

Dry Riesling – Not Das Helden

One thing worth understanding is that Heroes actually makes two different expressions of Riesling.

Heroes Vineyard Dry Riesling

95+ Points Halliday

Dry • Citrus • Floral • Textural • Precise

Heroes Das Helden Riesling

Halliday describes this as James Thomas' interpretation of a German Kabinett-style Riesling, with gentle sweetness balanced by acidity.

So if you want the pure, dry, citrus-driven expression:

This is the one.

Forget Clare vs Eden – This Is Something Different

One of the reasons I love this wine is that there's little point trying to force it into the usual Australian Riesling comparison.

Clare Valley Riesling can give you incredible lime and linear acidity.

Eden Valley can bring florals, perfume and delicacy.

The Otway Hinterland brings something different again.

Here you've got:

Very cool climate
High rainfall
Cloud influence
Unirrigated vines
Sandstone and sandy clay
Wild fermentation
11.5% alcohol

It's distinctly Victorian.

And distinctly Heroes.

Food Pairings

This would be sensational with:

• Fresh oysters
• King George whiting
• Sashimi
• Kingfish crudo
• Grilled prawns
• Scallops
• Salt and pepper squid
• Vietnamese salads
• Thai seafood
• Pork belly
• Fresh goat's cheese

I'd go straight for oysters or King George whiting.

The combination of Meyer lemon, lime zest, florals and fine acidity makes this an absolute natural with seafood.

Serve at around 8–10°C.

Don't serve it freezing cold.

Give it a proper white-wine glass and allow those jasmine and orange-blossom aromatics to open.

Drinking & Cellaring

This is delicious now.

But don't underestimate its ability to age.

Philip Rich specifically believes the wine should age gracefully over the next decade.

I'd suggest:

Drink now–2035+.

Young, you'll get:

Meyer Lemon • Lime • Jasmine • Orange Blossom • Freshness

With bottle age, expect the wine to move towards:

Lemon curd • Toast • Beeswax • Dried citrus • Mineral complexity

At $39, I'd buy enough to drink some young and hide a few bottles away.

Why We Love It

This is exactly the sort of wine that makes wine retail exciting.

A producer many people haven't heard of.

An unusual region.

A tiny vineyard.

And serious quality.

Look at what you're getting:

🔥 95+ Points – Halliday Wine Companion
⭐ 93 Points – The Wine Front
Original Heroes Vineyard
Planted 1999
Unirrigated
Tertiary Sandstone & Siltstone Soils
Tiny 1.7kg-per-vine Yield
Wild Fermentation
Stainless Steel
Bottled Without Fining
11.5% Alcohol
Only 180 Cases Produced

And the RRP?

$39.

That's exceptional buying.

The wine gives you Meyer lemon, lime zest, jasmine and orange blossom, backed by texture, fine acidity and beautiful balance.

And perhaps most importantly, it introduces you to a producer Halliday Wine Companion now describes as one to watch.

95+ Halliday. 93 Wine Front. Unirrigated single vineyard. Wild fermented. Only 180 cases. $39 RRP.

The 2024 Heroes Vineyard Dry Riesling is one of Victoria's great under-the-radar Riesling discoveries.