TN: 2015 Franz Hirtzberger Riesling Smaragd Singerriedel--That much for an Austrian Riesling?

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John Trombley
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TN: 2015 Franz Hirtzberger Riesling Smaragd Singerriedel--That much for an Austrian Riesling?

Post by John Trombley »

06-14-2017, 05:57 PM
6/14/2017 rated 96 points: 2015 Franz Hirtzberger Riesling Smaragd Singerriedel (Austria, Niederösterreich, Wachau).

Steph and Jackie at Greenfire Bistro, Tipp City, OH. Picked 17,18,19, and 25 of October 2015. 13.5 pabv. Vineyard Road; Framingham, MA. (Obviously a gray market bottle, Crush, because of its add-on importer label and so forth). Crush Wines, New York, $65/750 on prearrival. bot more likely $75 today, if you can find it. From refrigerated bottle into Impitoyable via Coravin. Pretasted at home.

Of course this is one of the most desirable bottlings in the Wachau, and a definite 'worth its tariff' in the best vintages. Is this one of them?

A strong yellow-green for type. The viscosity of this wine suspends its spritz in tiny bubbles for a good while, perhaps going to influence this evaluation. A nicely funky hint of lanolin or tar blends with an exotic florality and peach on the nose, scintillating and with great depth. Gets more 'Baroque', as one taster puts it, as it warms in the glass. Smells like there should be plenty of residual sugar, but of course there isn't, nor any perceptible botrytis, of course. Palate starts quite neutral but caressing and showing the high alcohol, something that's new to me for this bottling, but the alcohol just adds background energy as the wine warms and airs. A hint of lime on the back palate shows where this thing's going. A juicy/mouthwatering quality in the mouth is there definitely. I've found this in many Germanic-area 2015s of all sorts. Finish shows mint and first-flush Darjeeling tea notes, with just a little white-wine tannin. There is a definite sweet impression at about 30 plus seconds of its impressive aftertaste, with a brilliant, diamond-like note as it fades. Seems, however, nearly endless.

Makes the mouth feel clean and ready for the next sip or bite. How can a wine have at once such restrained power, such delicacy, and such visionary clarity of flavor? Doesn't have the laciy texture of my other favorite Austrian dry Riesling, the Nikolaihof Steiner Hund, but it has everything else. The only thing I worry about is if this lithe young creature turns rebelliously diesel-laden as it gets a bit older. If it does, there'll be a long time where opening a bottle will be a mistake. Drinking beautifully now, or wait from 2022 to 2035. If the estate has continued their near-compulsive attention to canopy management, high levels of carotenoids and TDN might never be a problem. Oh, heck. Say drink now straight through to 2035, and prove me wrong.
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Eric Ifune
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Re: TN: 2015 Franz Hirtzberger Riesling Smaragd Singerriedel--That much for an Austrian Riesling?

Post by Eric Ifune »

I've a bunch of Hirtzberger Singerriedel. Also of the Hochrain which is next to it. All of it is pre 2002 though.
John Trombley
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Joined: Sat Dec 29, 2007 6:46 pm
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Re: TN: 2015 Franz Hirtzberger Riesling Smaragd Singerriedel--That much for an Austrian Riesling?

Post by John Trombley »

Eric Ifune wrote:I've a bunch of Hirtzberger Singerriedel. Also of the Hochrain which is next to it. All of it is pre 2002 though.
I know you like 'em old, Eric, but I think you might invite your friends to help you taste through a few vintages. But you see that in this top vintage David Schildknect put this botting up for a candidate for drinking pleasurably in 2045, a mere 30 years old, which would be a trifle for a fine sweet Riesling, but these Smaragds seem to be made of stern stuff compared with your run-of-the-mill Trocken. I a few years back tasted a pre-DAC Reserve Trocken from the Vogelsang vineyard, a 1994, and at that time it was a lovely drink, with Dr. Markus and Peter Ruhrberg in Saarbrücken. Took a while for the diesel to blow off, but what was underneath was lovely.

The 2009 Hochrain was one of the loveliest things I've ever tasted, encountered at the estate.
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