“Learnings” watervale riesling 2025
Prince Wine Store Article by Michael McNamara
I feel like I write the same thing about these two wines from Clare’s self-effacing Riesling recluse, Neil Pike, every year, but to be honest, there’s not too much you can add to the story. The wines come off the same two blocks and are made essentially the way Neil makes them every year. The real point is that few, if any, producer in Clare have the knack of turning out Riesling of this quality. He’s an under-the-radar superstar of the genre. Some, like Gary Walsh (see below) go further, and believe no one is better. Pikey’s understanding of his craft and the terroirs of Clare have been baked-into his DNA from the get-go. His family are synonymous with the region.
Limefinger is the culmination of Neil’s Riesling journey in the Clare Valley. After selling his share of the Pikes business to his brother Andrew, Neil retreated for a few years only to re-emerge with these two short-run Rieslings under the Limefinger label. After kicking off in 2020 with his Watervale bottling from the old-vine, St Clare’s Honey Block, he then added a Polish Hill River bottling from a small home block, called Solace.
The wines are spot-on textbook examples – citrus, mineral, austere (in the best sense) all driven on a rail of acidity. Age serves to gently release more richness of fruit and aromats. I’ve been a little skeptical of the early 2025 Rieslings I’ve seen from Clare but then I sat down and tried these with Neil a month ago. They are brilliant. For a moment I was a bit confused, they share none of the issues I see in others. So, I took the opened bottles home and looked at them over two days. Starting at the high level of the first tasting, over two days they relaxed and got even better to a point where I was shaking my head. The bloke really does know what he’s doing!
Both wines are classic Neil Pike Rieslings; crystalline fruit purity and transparency to their sub-zones but also built with his usual austerity. They will last in the cellar and they do need that bit of time to relax into themselves but I feel like this vintage is one that will hit its optimum window earlier than usual. Best after 10 years I reckon but don’t be afraid to crack them and give them some time open. You’ll be rewarded for the patience, as I was.
As I wrote last year, in many ways they resemble the personality of the man, straightforward and honest but dig a little deeper and there’s so much more here – depth, complexity, light and shade. For me it’s a no brainer. One of Australia’s most accomplished Riesling makers/minds back producing wines that scream Clare valley dry Riesling. Special wines for the cellar.
Qwine Review
First class Watervale from Neil Pike. This Learnings 2025 is effortless, detailed and so pretty. Riesling lovers rejoice!
2025 was not the easiest year in the Clare, but the cream rises to the top, particularly in tough times. The perfume, mouth feel, shape, tension and sheer sophistication all dazzle here.
Pretty aromas of bath salts, bath powder, little white flowers and green apple peel seduce but it’s the core of limes and green apple fruit that sets this alight. The acid draws a tension and focus that I’m here for, but the fruit maintains a delicacy. And that right there is the class of the maker. Often the acidity has the ability to steal the show, but not here – it’s just part of the package. Crushed quartz minerality adds further detail with a pretty mouth perfume that has me leaning in. The talc finish caps things off perfectly. Take a bow Mr Pike. 96 points
The Wine Front Review by Gary Walsh
Small yields in 2025 with only 1650 bottles produced of this wine. Do we all know that I came up with the name Limefinger in one of my classic introductions some years back?
Lime and green apple, a salty or bath salty perfume, aromatic green herbs. It’s a crunchy zinger of a wine, intense and chalky, tight fine acidity, bitter lemon and kind of salt-crusted, with a firm powdery finish of excellent length. This fairly sizzles. The vintage has delivered something perhaps a little unusual, but gee it’s a wonderful wine. 95 points
Halliday Wine Companion Review by Mike Bennie
There were tough growing conditions for this release; frost and drought cut a swathe through volumes. That being said, the firmer, leaner texture here is an absolute treat, if not a high water mark for the wine.
Distinct, tangy lime juice, margarita peppery and salty elements, juniper berries and talc-like minerality. The palate is chalky, assertive with its minerally acidity and persists to infinity. The compact nature of the wine marries juiciness and a precise, crystalline feel. Wildly refreshing, too. Top-flight stuff. 97 points
Winepilot review by Ken Gargett
From the Watervale sub-region, while frost might have decimated the Solace from this vintage, The Learnings escaped largely unscathed – well, perhaps less scathed. 1,650 bottles made.
The colour is extremely pale with just a lemon hint. On the nose we have florals, herbs, citrus, freshly sliced limes and a note rather reminiscent of a good gin and tonic. There is a chalkiness here and the palate is seamless and intense with incredible length. Poised and taut, the wine is balanced and yet ethereal. Will surely provide immense pleasure over the next fifteen years. 97 points
“Solace” polish hill river riesling 2025
Qwine Review
The best of the best stand up in challenging times and Neil Pike reigns supreme from a frost-impacted 2025. Down on volume but the quality remains sky high, this is brilliance in a bottle. I walked these rows in January. The impact of frost was telling, not to mention the severe lack of water in the region. The bunches were tiny but with Magic Hands Pike at the wheel, rest assured you’re on the right bus. Down 80% on previous vintages, only 780 bottles were produced from Pike’s Polish Hill site which sits a steady one wood from the Polish Hill River Church Museum.
The focus and intensity of the fruit cannot be denied. Juicy limes are all the rage, crushed white petals, bath salts and a flash of musk. Chalky feels lay a solid foundation through the mouth with a green apple crunch, lime pith and Bickford’s lime cordial. The slately minerally soils tap away in the background, but just like the Learnings Watervale, there is an incredible delicacy and polish. Every element is in precise balance. Many Rieslings call for ice-cold throwbacks, but this asks you to pause, consider and savour every drop. Please do. For the challenges faced, this is sheer brilliance and delight all rolled into one. 97 points
The Wine Front Review by Gary Walsh
Pikey says a September frost wiped out 80% of the crop from this vineyard. There’s only 780 bottles produced as a result.
Juicy and intense. Lime, cape gooseberry, green mango, some floral perfume. Lots of flinty bits and stony grip, mouth-watering, crunchy and long to close with a twist of tonic and lime rind in the aftertaste. Such a refreshing and interesting expression of Riesling. 95 points
Halliday Wine Companion Review by Mike Bennie
A horrific frost wiped out around 80% of fruit in the Solace block. The result is that only 780 bottles of this wine were produced. Despite the difficult growing season, this is a wild success.
It feels energetic, tense and racy, a slingshot of cumquat, tart lime, quartz-like mineral feel, slate and some flinty elements. A chalky pucker to texture lends a sense of structure; the finish is a trickle of peppery spice and briny minerality. A delicate wine, nervous and agile and hugely mouth-watering. Perhaps best drunk with youth on its side; a stellar riesling emerges from the glass right now. 96 points
Winepilot review by Ken Gargett
Reduced to a mere fraction of its usual production thanks to frost, only 780 bottles of this scintillating Riesling from the Polish Hill River sub-region were made in this vintage.
The colour again is the very palest lemon/yellow. On the nose there is a real minerally note, with granite, river stones and wet slate, but then also the typical zesty limes and florals. This is taut and tense, there is real power here. Hints of chalk, talc and bath salts on the palate, it exhibits wonderful length. Twenty years without hesitation. If you had to pick between these two Limefinger Rieslings, toss a coin. I can’t split them. But don’t miss them. 97 points