Rieslingfreak's latest high-scoring wines show why Belinda and John Hughes are true riesling masters

Belinda and John Hughes are riesling freaks. They are obsessed with the variety, particularly experimenting with different styles and site expressions.

From fruit sourced across the Clare and Eden Valleys in South Australia, they craft dry, sweet, sparkling and fortified styles of riesling under their aptly named Rieslingfreak label.

There are around 20 different rieslings in the range, although what's produced each year depends on the season. The latest release includes the 2025 vintages of the No. 2, No. 3, No. 4, No. 5, No. 8, No. 10, No. 12 and No. 14, as well as the special 2022 Rieslingfreak No. 1 Grounds of Grandeur Riesling. The wines were awarded scores from 93 to 98, with the vast majority sitting at or above 95. 

Dave Brookes gave the flagship No. 1 98 points, saying: “It's like a liquid version of that light you get just after a late afternoon rain storm, all crystalline and shimmering like it's balancing on a fulcrum and everything falls into sharp relief.”

Only produced in exceptional vintages, the 2022 is just the third release of the No.1. Fruit was grown by Dan Falkenberg at Avon Brae vineyards just outside of Springton in the Eden Valley. Dan’s biodynamic and holistic approach to winegrowing, with a focus on natural, site-derived inputs and increased biodiversity in the vineyard, ensured a vigorous and distinctly unique natural fermentation, imparting complexity in both flavour and texture to the finished wine.

“It is an homage to the German GG style,” says Belinda. “A New World wine made in a distinctly Old-World way, paying respect to the individual vineyard, the grower and the grapes by capturing the very essence of the vineyard terroir from the best vines of the vintage.”

The 2025 vintage was more challenging, however still produced exceptional wines.

“The 2025 vintage was not without its challenges. 2024 was the driest year on record in South Australia, and the pressure on our growers to manage their limited water supplies was intense to say the least,” Belinda says. “Coupled with a severe frost event in September 2024, crops were much smaller than average across both the Clare and Eden Valleys.”

But, while this limited production volumes, “it also reduced the pressure on irrigation resources, producing smaller volumes of intensely flavoured berries. The 2025 rieslings are bursting with intense fruit flavour, meaning that even the dry rieslings with high levels of natural acidity achieve perfect balance without a hint of residual sugar.”

While you might be lucky enough to find the No.3 Clare Valley Riesling and No.4 Eden Valley Riesling in independent wine stores, Belinda and John recommend signing up to the Rieslingfreak mailing list or browsing their rieslings at rieslingfreak.com to avoid missing out.

Even better if you can visit their Tasting Room in the Barossa Valley, where the full range (plus some very special limited releases) is available.