Pikes The Merle’ Reserve Riesling 2025 750ml (6 Bottle Pack)

Brand: Pikes

Release Name: "The Merle" Reserve Riesling

Wine Style / Type: Dry, Mineral-Driven Reserve White Wine

Varietal: 100% Riesling

Age: 2025 Vintage

Volume: 750ml Bottle

Alc / Vol (%): 11.5%

Country: Australia

Region: Clare Valley, South Australia (Polish Hill River Estate — Gill's Farm and Hill Blocks)

Cask Type: Unoaked — Fermented in Stainless Steel with Wild Yeast, Extended Lees Contact

Limited Edition: Yes (Production Limited to Several Hundred Cases Per Year)

Award Winner: Yes — 96 Points, Nick Ryan (Top 100 Wines of 2025); 95 Points, Gary Walsh, The Wine Front; 95 Points, Winepilot.com; Ranked #1 of 44 2025 Rieslings from Clare Valley, The Real Review

Pikes Wines, established in 1984 by brothers Neil and Andrew Pike in the Polish Hill River sub-region of the Clare Valley, stands as a premier institution of family-led Australian winemaking craftsmanship. Transforming a historic stone shearing shed into their flagship winery, the family combines Neil’s veteran winemaking insight with Andrew’s deep viticultural experience to cultivate varieties that mirror their unique terroir. Heavily celebrated for their wood mastery, pristine estate management, and refusal to cut corner processes, the house holds massive critical acclaim. Having secured prestigious show medals and multiple back-to-back people's choice awards, Pikes remains a highly sought-after brand among world wine historians and discerning collectors alike.

The Merle is sourced from two specific blocks on the Pikes estate — Gill's Farm and Hill Block — home to the oldest ungrafted vines on the property, rooted deep in blue slate soils that give the wine a level of concentration and minerality the standard Traditionale doesn't reach. It's fermented with wild yeast in stainless steel and given extended lees contact for texture, with production limited to just several hundred cases a year, making it a genuinely scarce, small-batch wine rather than a broadly available release. The 2025 vintage has drawn exceptional critical acclaim — 96 points and a place in Nick Ryan's Top 100 Wines of 2025, plus 95 points from both Gary Walsh at The Wine Front and Winepilot — with reviewers specifically noting it as peak form for the wine. Named after Neil and Andrew Pikes' mother, it carries real family significance alongside its critical pedigree, and with a recommended cellaring window stretching 8-10 years or more, it's a serious choice for both immediate drinking and long-term collecting.