The 2010 Riesling gives notes of lemon juice, apple blossom and acacia honey with a whiff of damp slate. Light bodied with a good amount of crisp, citrusy flavors in the mouth, it is made in a medium style (16 grams per liter of residual sugar) with a long zesty finish. Drink it now to 2014. Importer: Winebow; www.winebow.com

The 2009 Yealands Way Riesling has intense aromas of acacia honey, jasmine, lime leaves, coriander seed and mandarin peel plus a whiff of petrol. It’s an off-dry style with 15 grams per liter of residual sugar but because of the very crisp acidity you hardly notice the sweetness. It has a long honeyed finish. Drink it now to 2014. Peter Yealands doesn’t do things by halves. When the local landowner set his sights on producing wines he committed 1000 hectares of prime Awatere Valley sea view property to vine. His timing, well, it couldn’t have been worse. But the good news is that with the vines coming into production now, he seems to have chosen a pretty good spot for producing Sauvignons with a bit of character and edge, and at a very good price point. To a lesser extent he’s got a real fruit salad of other vines planted for the purposes of experimentation, which is to be commended. Some of these are already making pretty good wines; one such grape is Gruner Veltliner. Though not reviewed here, I sampled a very promising tank sample that tastes textbook varietally correct. Winemaker Tamra Washington deserves a pat on the back for her skill at crafting good wines from such young vines on scales large and small.Importer: Winebow; www.winebow.com