2025 Riesling

 Our love for off-dry Riesling has meant giving the style a third run but with some refinement. Dryer than previous years, bottled much earlier but still with a little hint of sugar to balance out the acidity we get from the high altitude and quartz soils of Scary Gully. We love riesling, simple. Enjoy.

Vineyard: Scary Gully
Vine age: 12 years
Clones: GMI98
Elevation: 620 metres
Residual Sugar: 9g/L
Aspect: South-east

Soils: Light loamy clay over sandstone with extensive schist and quartz rubble.

Vinification: 100% whole cluster pressed and settled in tank overnight. Fermented and rested in terracotta egg and old oak for eight months.

Alcohol. 10.5%
Production. 166 cases

The Wine Front Review by Mike Bennie

Posted on 21 March 2026

'Scary Gully is the site. An imaginative, savoury take on riesling on hand.

It has a lift and pluck of saline minerality, some touches of white balsamic lift but apt in ground hazelnut savouriness for freshness and the sense of preserved lemon and lime that balance as freshness. Hazy green apple juice too, some exotic star fruit notes. A wine outside the rank and file rummage of steely, racy, monotone riesling, defying that paradigm and delivering a more serious, interesting and a more gourmand take overall. And excellent for drinkability, thusly.'

94 Points

2025 Sauvignon Blanc

Vineyards: Summertown
Vine age: 22 years
Clones: Unknown
Elevation: 450-620m
Aspects: Various
Soils: Light loamy clay over sandstone with extensive schist and quartz rubble.
Vinification: 100% whole cluster pressed and settled in tank overnight. Racked to neutral French barriques and hogsheads for eight months.
Alc: 13.5%
Production: 980 dozen

The Wine Front Review by Mike Bennie

Posted on 21 March 2026

'From vines in Summertown.

Squeaky textured, medium weight white wine with lusty cut of salt-rimmed margarita and lime going on with dashes of tropical fruits and cut grass. Yum. Slinky and swishy, a pleasing kind of loose knit affair with that squeak tightening around that. Curious in that mesh of textures, and vibrant. Almost a seaside white kind of feel here. Outside the box for the variety in the best sense. Wonderful to drink. Summery plus, to extend the season.'

93 Points 

2025 Chardonnay

Vineyards: Ashton, Scary Gully, Summertown, Basket Range, Charleston, Piccadilly & Lenswood
Vine age: 5-32 years
Clones: G9V7, i10v1, 95 & 96
Elevation: 400-500m
Aspects: Various
Soils: Light loamy clay over sandstone with extensive schist & quartz rubble.
Vinification: 100% whole cluster pressed and settled in tank overnight. Racked to a mixture of French and Austrian barriques, puncheons and foudre for nine months, 20% new.
Alc: 13.0%
Production: 770 dozen

The Wine Front Review by Mike Bennie

Posted on 16 March 2026

'From a blend of vineyards, a host now under the care or sourcing regimen of Gentle Folk. I remember when Gareth Belton was just a beardy baby at all this, and geez, did he apply himself. One of those great, great Aus wine stories, really, rising to be stupendous from a very concerted self taught start (with great mentors and helpers). This combines Ashton, Scary Gully, Summertown, Basket Range, Charleston, Piccadilly and Lenswood. Phew. Wild ferment to older oak (20% new) with French and Austrian wood employed *and foudre.

Sumptuous wine with cut and thrust, plenty of flavour, cooling saline minerality, light toasty spice, salted cashew, preserved lime, juicy red apple, some just-ripe stone fruits; very precise in its way but has a nice slapped bass line of funky stuff too. Packs in lots of character and then has a high refreshment factor, is the gist. Complexity written into the thread of the tasting/conversation/drinking. So darn gulpable too. Wicked drink. Great chardonnay.'

94 Points

2025 Pinot Noir

Vineyards: Monomeith, Uraidla, Piccadilly, Summertown, Little Creek, Basket Range, Scary Gully & Charleston
Vine age: 5 -37 years
Clones: MV6, D5V12, Pommard, 114, 115, 777, 828, 667 & Martini
Elevation: 500-620m
Aspects: East-west (Monomeith), north-south (Little Creek),North (Basket Range), South-east & South-west (Scary Gully) and North (Uraidla)
Soils: Light loamy clay over sandstone with extensive schist & quartz rubble.
Vinification: Mostly 20% whole cluster open top fermentation for three weeks, but the blend includes some shorter macerated 100%-whole-bunch fermentation barrels. Eight months in French oak barriques and puncheons, 15% new.
Alc: 13.0%
Production: 1,100 dozen

The Wine Front Review by Mike Bennie

Posted on 21 March 2026

'A combination of vineyards which seems to total six.

A succulent yet dark fruited pinot noir. Black cherry, tart plum, charry cinnamon, cola notes, alpine herbs, Worcestershire sauce and charcoal scraped on slate kind of minerality. Evocative stuff. Medium weight-ish, chewy in texture, juicy at its core. Sweet fruit poking through savouriness in a pleasing mesh of both. Quite the experience, an almost syrah-like feel to the wine. Lovely drinking.'

92 Points

2025 Village Sangiovese

Vineyard: Charleston and Forreston
Vine age: 16 - 27 years
Clones: H6V9
Elevation: 300 - 460m
Aspects: Various
Soils: Sandy loam over siltstone and sandstone.
Vinification: 100% destemmed open topped fermentation for three weeks before closing the tank and leaving on skins for an extra three weeks. Pressed to a combination of hogsheads, terracotta and foudre for 8 months.
Alc: 13.5%
Production: 700 dozen

The Wine Front Review by Mike Bennie

Posted on 16 March 2026

'Charleston and Forreston vineyards in the Adelaide Hills are the underpinning. Six weeks on skins, sees time in hogshead barrels, terracotta vessels and foudre. Strong MO for cooler climate sangio.

Inviting perfume, floral, red fruited, spicy. Sappy cherry, raspberry liquorice, strawberry compote, salt bush, mint, rose hip tea and cranberry drink with a dash of woody spice and faint choc-almond. Medium weight with a vibrant streak of blood orange and alpine vermouth. Slick texture with a little powdery grip for tannin and texture. Nicely played, a one speed-good speed kinda deal. Served at a cooler temp and this thing really hummed. Ease of drinking is writ large.'

91 Points

2025 Syrah/Shiraz

Vineyards: Turnbull (Charleston) & Murdoch Hill
Vine age: 8 - 31 years
Clones: 1654, 470, SARDI7, BVRC12 & 2626
Elevation: 400 - 460m
Aspects: North
Soils: Sandy loam over red-orange clay and sandstone.
Vinification: 25% whole cluster open top fermentation for three - four weeks. Eight months in French puncheons, 20% new.
Alc: 14.0%
Production: 250 dozen

The Wine Front Review by Mike Bennie

Posted on 21 March 2026

'Of the new releases, this was a wine I scurried away for drinking over pure observation, perhaps. A bit of both. Safe to say, in the wheelhouse. Screw cap sealed now.

It has that inky, black-purple colour but defies it with slinky texture, a pumice stone grip, violent black cherry and game meat, spicy perfume, a slosh in texture with that trim and slide taking things off medium weight and to friskier, fresher places. To taste, more of the dark cherry, lavish in spice, almost tactile pepperiness and some cool blue fruit notes in the mix. Maybe cola too. The finish a pleasing pucker that lingers on and on. Elegance, finesse, energy, interest. Stupidly good.'

95 Points

(Image: Gareth & Rainbo Belton - Gentle Folk Wines / www.gentlefolk.com.au)