2012 Hirtzberger Hochrain Riesling Smaragd

[Rahsaan]

So good.

I had a bottle a few years ago that was promising but felt like it needed a few years. Well, a few years later it turns out I was right. This is gorgeous now.

Long golden and powerful but savory, zesty, mineral and elegant. So many sides and dimensions and for my palate they are all clicking together right now.

I am happy to have a few more and will be happy to drink them in the near future. I suppose others might wait longer, but I had no complaints from start to finish of this bottle. Life is good.

 

[Levi Dalton]

Brenna Quigley the geologist helped me understand this wine better when she explained after visiting Hirtzberger that it is a loess site. The typical move in Austria is to plant Grüner Veltliner on loess, not Riesling. This wine is a bit of an exception to the rule in that respect. I realized through the lens of this wine (in other vintages) that what I often think of as Grüner Velliner characteristics are actually loess characteristics. Because this wine can seem like what I think of as a Grüner Veltliner in some respects on the palate, although the finish has a Riesling giveaway.

This was one of the keenest insights into Austrian whites that I have so far managed.

 

[Rahsaan]

Funny you should say that Levi, because at some point in the bottle last night I thought I tasted the pungent vegetal flavors that I usually associate with Grüner. Not sure if that is what you were referring to?

The overall picture was still recognizable as riesling, but I probably could have been fooled in a blind tasting. Either way it was damned delicious.

I've probably not had as many vintages of this wine as you. At home it's been 08, 10 and 12; if anything more recent it was just a passing taste.

 

[Christian Miller (CMM)]

originally posted by Levi Dalton:
Brenna Quigley the geologist helped me understand this wine better when she explained after visiting Hirtzberger that it is a loess site. The typical move in Austria is to plant Grüner Veltliner on loess, not Riesling. This wine is a bit of an exception to the rule in that respect. I realized through the lens of this wine (in other vintages) that what I often think of as Grüner Velliner characteristics are actually loess characteristics. Because this wine can seem like what I think of as a Grüner Veltliner in some respects on the palate, although the finish has a Riesling giveaway.

This was one of the keenest insights into Austrian whites that I have so far managed.

That's fascinating. While I've seen plenty of examples of terroir stamping its character on particular varieties, doing it similarly across varieties seems more unusual, at least in my experience. I've tasted it with Contra Costa sandy soils across Zin and Mourvedre; with Villafonte's estate wines in South Africa; and in parts of the Yonne and Graves. Can't recall others off-hand.

 

[Levi Dalton]

originally posted by Christian Miller (CMM):

originally posted by Levi Dalton:
Brenna Quigley the geologist helped me understand this wine better when she explained after visiting Hirtzberger that it is a loess site. The typical move in Austria is to plant Grüner Veltliner on loess, not Riesling. This wine is a bit of an exception to the rule in that respect. I realized through the lens of this wine (in other vintages) that what I often think of as Grüner Velliner characteristics are actually loess characteristics. Because this wine can seem like what I think of as a Grüner Veltliner in some respects on the palate, although the finish has a Riesling giveaway.

This was one of the keenest insights into Austrian whites that I have so far managed.

That's fascinating. While I've seen plenty of examples of terroir stamping its character on particular varieties, doing it similarly across varieties seems more unusual, at least in my experience. I've tasted it with Contra Costa sandy soils across Zin and Mourvedre; with Villafonte's estate wines in South Africa; and in parts of the Yonne and Graves. Can't recall others off-hand.

Really?

Maybe you should try lining up some examples and trying them side by side. Granite and limestone markers are pretty clear across grape varieties, for example. Not everyone thinks so, of course, but then I don't think a majority of people have been tasting wine professionally for a couple decades, either. It is somewhat about training. It is definitely possible to do.

 

[Christian Miller (CMM)]

originally posted by Levi Dalton:

originally posted by Christian Miller (CMM):

originally posted by Levi Dalton:
Brenna Quigley the geologist helped me understand this wine better when she explained after visiting Hirtzberger that it is a loess site. The typical move in Austria is to plant Grüner Veltliner on loess, not Riesling. This wine is a bit of an exception to the rule in that respect. I realized through the lens of this wine (in other vintages) that what I often think of as Grüner Velliner characteristics are actually loess characteristics. Because this wine can seem like what I think of as a Grüner Veltliner in some respects on the palate, although the finish has a Riesling giveaway.

This was one of the keenest insights into Austrian whites that I have so far managed.

That's fascinating. While I've seen plenty of examples of terroir stamping its character on particular varieties, doing it similarly across varieties seems more unusual, at least in my experience. I've tasted it with Contra Costa sandy soils across Zin and Mourvedre; with Villafonte's estate wines in South Africa; and in parts of the Yonne and Graves. Can't recall others off-hand.

Really?

Maybe you should try lining up some examples and trying them side by side. Granite and limestone markers are pretty clear across grape varieties, for example. Not everyone thinks so, of course, but then I don't think a majority of people have been tasting wine professionally for a couple decades, either. It is somewhat about training. It is definitely possible to do.

I haven't had the opportunity to do a systematic tasting like that; my observations above were based on tasting the wines in other contexts, professional and otherwise. Would be a lot of fun. I'm guessing the wines would need to be neither heavily oaked nor ultra-ripe to make this work.

 

[Levi Dalton]

originally posted by Christian Miller (CMM):

I'm guessing the wines would need to be neither heavily oaked nor ultra-ripe to make this work.

In this era I find this is less and less of an issue, as producers have often shifted away from both heavy oak and picking late. But of course there have been a number of warm/hot vintages in this era as well.

The bigger problem is getting accurate information about what is grown on what. Websites are sometimes wrong, growers are sometimes not specific, or don't have the knowledge to assess what they have, some plots have mixtures of different rock types, sometimes wines are blended from parcels across multiple types, etc. When you set up accurate side by sides, it is generally pretty apparent just from the markers in the wines. I don't think it takes a specific acuity to notice, but maybe I am wrong. Anyway, I am regularly ably to accurately blind taste for rock types at this point.

 

[Rahsaan]

Another great bottle opened last night. This time for guests who like wine but don't really know much about it (and are more Francophile in their leanings). It was a particular revelation for one guest who said she usually recoils from riesling because she does not like sweet wine. Yes, that old thing. It wasn't a time for explicit education but I may have done my small part to spread greater appreciation of these fine wines.