Pikes Traditionale Riesling 2025 Review: A Father’s Day Seafood Boil Pairing

There are probably easier ways to spend Father’s Day than abandoning your wife and daughter in a seafood restaurant while you walk around Liverpool looking for the right bottle of Riesling.

But apparently that’s where I’m at with wine now!

Liv and Eden had taken me to Crabbish for Father’s Day, a seafood boil restaurant where you choose your seafood, sides, spice level and seasoning. We’d gone mild on the actual heat but heavy on the Cajun, and as soon as I realised the restaurant wasn’t licensed, my mind immediately went to Riesling.

Seafood, Cajun seasoning, spice, plenty of richness. It just made sense, So off I went in search of a bottle.

The £39 Riesling Problem

My first stop was Ropes & Twine, where the cheapest option I could find was around £39.

Now, I’m not against spending £39 on Riesling. Far from it. But spending £39 on a bottle sitting warm on a shelf when I wanted something cold and ready to drink with lunch didn’t particularly appeal.

So I left and headed to Tesco.

By this point Liv had phoned me absolutely fuming because I’d essentially disappeared during my own Father’s Day meal in search of wine.

Probably deserved.

Thankfully, Tesco came through.

Sitting there was a bottle of Pikes Traditionale Riesling 2025 from Clare Valley, and suddenly the little expedition felt worthwhile.

Why Clare Valley Riesling?

Riesling was where my head had been from the beginning, although initially I was probably thinking more towards Germany.

The seafood itself wants acidity and freshness, while the Cajun seasoning needs something aromatic enough not to disappear. With only mild heat, I wasn’t particularly concerned about needing residual sugar to calm everything down.

That made Clare Valley Riesling a really interesting option.

This is one of Australia’s great regions for Riesling and generally produces a very different expression to the slightly off dry German styles people sometimes associate with the grape. Clare Valley tends to be dry, intensely citrus driven and incredibly fresh.

Exactly what I wanted alongside a big pile of seasoned seafood.

On the Nose

Straight out of the glass I’m getting elderflower and lime.

There’s a lovely freshness to it, with the lime immediately giving away that classic Riesling character, but underneath everything there’s something I wasn’t expecting from such a young wine. Petrol!!!

Not loads of it. This isn’t some heavily aged Riesling where kerosene dominates the glass. It’s much more muted than that, sitting quietly behind the fruit and florals.

But it’s definitely there.

And considering this is the 2025 vintage, that surprised me.

It’s one of those aromas that sounds absolutely horrendous when you try explaining wine to somebody who isn’t particularly interested in it. Why would you want your wine to smell slightly like petrol?

Yet in Riesling it works.

Against the elderflower and fresh lime, that tiny petrol note adds another layer and immediately makes the nose more interesting than simple citrus fruit.

The Father’s Day Test

The real reason I bought this wasn’t to sit analysing it on its own, though.

It’s here for a seafood boil.

We’ve deliberately kept the heat fairly mild but gone heavy on the Cajun seasoning, so I’m expecting the acidity and lime character of the wine to have plenty to work with.

That’s the interesting bit for me now.

The wine on its own is showing this combination of floral elderflower, fresh lime and that unexpected muted petrol character. Once you introduce seasoned seafood and all the richness that comes with a boil, I’m interested to see which parts of the wine get amplified and which disappear completely.

And that’s ultimately why I love doing this.

I could have stayed at the table and ordered a Coke.

Instead, I somehow ended up walking around Liverpool on Father’s Day looking for Riesling while my wife became increasingly annoyed at my disappearance.

Whether that demonstrates dedication to wine or just questionable decision making, I’ll leave to Liv.

At least I came back with a very promising bottle!