Casual dinner at Testacio: Honey and sweet apple with some diesel. Palate is big, round and powerful with lots of diesel and smoke. Interesting for sure.
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Dinner at Testaccio (Chicago, IL): Ugh, I hate having to admit that Salil is right (especially about stuff like dry riesling). This wine was pretty damn good. It started out very peachy and fruit forward, somewhat Keller-like but lacking the weight on the backend. There's a little bit of white pepper and spice here, but it's at the end of the dinner where this really started singing -- this became so incredibly saline, and the mineral lift emerged prominently on the finish. Compelling stuff. Am I going to run out and buy more dry Austrian riesling after this? Not yet.
Sunday at Salil's: Salil opened this up for me. It was an amazing bottle of wine. White fruit, petrol, beeswax, and lemon peel came through on the nose. On the palate this was equally complex and perfectly balanced. A true pleasure to drink.
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I've had some amazing bottles of this over the past few years, but this was on another level. Spectacular aromatics; it starts out with peach and petrol but with time turning more mineral and smoky, and a palate that is beyond anything I can describe. This has every facet of great Riesling; fruit, spice, honey, and incredible minerality all coming together with a combination of palate-staining intensity and remarkable finesse and lightness on the palate.
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A sub-par showing, not quite on the level of previous bottles that I've enjoyed, though still a really impressive wine. There's an astringent quality to the nose with a stony/asphalt-like note dominating, and the fruit and floral elements rather reticent. The palate is another matter entirely - it's incredibly plush and layered with an array of ripe orchard fruits, flowers, and mineral notes, great complexity and remarkable focus and persistence. Still a really enjoyable wine to drink, but this didn't come close to the heights of other bottles I've had in the past.
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Deep yellow. More citrus than stone fruit on the nose, only a trace of secondary aged Riesling aromas. Medium weight, definitely not as densely packed as some of these Austrian Smaragds. Dry, intense, bitter citrus, tea, and peach in descending order. Absolutely show stopping acidity and stone at the back end. A great bottle and the best showing since 2012. In between, I've had bottles that seemed tired in comparison.
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Full yellow. Peach and black tea with a bit of honey. Very full bodied, powerful fruit and good back end minerality. By the end of the bottle, the barest notes of oxidation crept in. Looking back at my notes over the past few years, now I think there is little question that this has peaked and lost some energy and excitement. Still at a high level but would advise drinking up-not the 30 year wine I once thought it might be.
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Pre-Holiday Dinner @ Home: Uncanny how this can possess so much power yet be so weightless. A smack of citrus with a rocky saline wash in the finish. Lip pursingly good.
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This is superb. Powerful, complex, intense yet elegant with layers of stony and saline mineral notes, ripe citrus and stone fruits, and developing savoury and smoky elements all coming together seamlessly. There's fantastic balance here with bright acidity and great length. Fantastic Riesling, one to both drink and hold.
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Comes across younger than my last bottle with the fruit more intense and forward, but also framed by a vivid stoniness and maturing smoky flavours that emerge with air. As always with Hirtzberger, there's a remarkable combination of power and finesse here, and I'm glad I have a few more of this.
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What a great bottle. This is totally seamless, with so many layers of fruit, minerality, flowers and mature, deeper toned savoury notes coming together harmoniously on the nose and palate. There's that power and intensity I always expect from Hirtzberger but also a remarkable sense of lightness and precision here, and a finish that just keeps unfolding for minutes.
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Full yellow. As with past bottles, powerful dried peach scents, but now for the first time, some petrol. Lush, even a bit oily. Just off dry stone fruit and lemon with tremendous acidity and soil kicking in as it goes. Fantastic and much more open than other bottles over the past couple of years. Either this has reached maturity much sooner than I anticipated or this was an atypically advanced bottle. Still plenty of time for this one way or the other.
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Deep yellow. Intense nose of citrus and tea. Full bodied, dry, mouth filling and powerful. Dizzying array of lemon, peach and even a little pineapple all bound up by tremendous minerality. Fantastic dry Riesling.
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Light yellow. Much fresher looking and smelling than the '96 Frederic Emile we also had tonight. Lots of material packed into a very small space-dense and powerful with strong quinine more than fruit tones. Little in the way of secondary development. The way it has shown over the past few years makes me think that it will continue to evolve glacially and be a 25 to 30 year wine.
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Bohemian Duck Dinner (Pinot and Riesling) (New Buffalo, Michigan): Bought this on sale for $27 years ago (normally $50) and opened it this weekend with my wife's duck. This was better than either the 1998 or 2004 vintages of this wine. At 12 years old this wine was still going strong. It showed the depth, elegance and subtlety that age can bring out in a fine Riesling. Golden yellow color. Slight hint of petrol on the nose but not as much as you might expect. Notes of quince, grapefruit and fresh herbs. Strong mineral backbone. Long finish with a touch of sweetness. 93 points.
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On the nose aromas of lime and intense minerality of wet rocks. It also exhibits some peach, minty-herbal notes and a little bit of petrol. Gorgeous on the palate with bruleed lemon flavors carrying over a creamy texture. Brings wave after wave of flavor with beautiful balanced acidity giving it lift. Very good length.
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Light to medium yellow. Powerful quinine and herbs. Totally dry, focused and striking an extraordinary balance between compact density and a sense of lightness. This has not budged much since I last tasted it in 2008.
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Medium yellow with some green. This started out with creamy, herbal notes that would have had me guessing Gruner Veltliner instead of Riesling, but the Riesling elements of slate, grapefruit, and green apple gradually asserted themselves. Great acidity and minerality serve as the scaffolding for a seamless, medium bodied wine with an endless finish. Herbs including sage and pine notes persisted, along with a glorious, high toned floral/distillate quality. Complex, young, and altogether great.
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We had this at Pam and Geoff's yearly wine dinner, which has moved from Boston to Durham, but still draws the faithful from all over. This wine benefitted over the evening from aeration and warming, and paired well with everything from the grilled shrimp and white bean salad to the cheese course (I couldn't make myself finish it with the salad, and luckily, we had a bottle to have when everyone left the next day!)
Unusually complex nose combining orange peel, pineapple, some white flowers and strong mineral elements. Then it fans out very dry on the palate, with a lush finish seemingly lasting forever. This wine slayed me.
Several people who hadn't had dry riesling said it was the surprise discovery of the evening for them--I should buy my 2005 and 2006s before they all rush out and do it!
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very unique nose of minerals and violets- mountain stream!- palate is a bit shut down at the moment and revealing only hints of fruit- tons of minerals with great structure that literally dances on the tongue- lightweight and focused. not at peak, but very interesting.
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Really great bottle. Snappy gooseberries, flowers, and minerals on the nose. You can almost feel the nose as it is layered , textured, and rich. The palate is concentrated with essence of stone and pitted stone fruits, but without any heaviness at all. In fact, that is the big surprise with this wine, how it manages to convey such concentration without any heaviness. The finish is bright, linear, mineral, and dusted with white flowers. Has lost it's baby fat and is now a grown up. Killer.
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Tasted with marinated shrimp. Fresh, slightly spritzy, tasted of citrus and pignole nuts. Superb wine, always seems the Austrian whites taste better with food. Not so much a standalone wine. Elegant and wonderfully acidic.
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10/13/2021 - Nanda wrote: 90 Points
Casual dinner at Testacio: Honey and sweet apple with some diesel. Palate is big, round and powerful with lots of diesel and smoke. Interesting for sure.
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10/13/2021 - acyso wrote: 93 Points
Dinner at Testaccio (Chicago, IL): Ugh, I hate having to admit that Salil is right (especially about stuff like dry riesling). This wine was pretty damn good. It started out very peachy and fruit forward, somewhat Keller-like but lacking the weight on the backend. There's a little bit of white pepper and spice here, but it's at the end of the dinner where this really started singing -- this became so incredibly saline, and the mineral lift emerged prominently on the finish. Compelling stuff. Am I going to run out and buy more dry Austrian riesling after this? Not yet.
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2/11/2018 - prof b wrote: 95 Points
Sunday at Salil's: Salil opened this up for me. It was an amazing bottle of wine. White fruit, petrol, beeswax, and lemon peel came through on the nose. On the palate this was equally complex and perfectly balanced. A true pleasure to drink.
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2/11/2018 - salil wrote: 97 Points
I've had some amazing bottles of this over the past few years, but this was on another level. Spectacular aromatics; it starts out with peach and petrol but with time turning more mineral and smoky, and a palate that is beyond anything I can describe. This has every facet of great Riesling; fruit, spice, honey, and incredible minerality all coming together with a combination of palate-staining intensity and remarkable finesse and lightness on the palate.
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4/1/2017 - El_Toro Likes this wine: 94 Points
What a stunning riesling. For an austrian wine very cool style if you can say so with lots of botrytis
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6/29/2015 - salil wrote: 91 Points
A sub-par showing, not quite on the level of previous bottles that I've enjoyed, though still a really impressive wine. There's an astringent quality to the nose with a stony/asphalt-like note dominating, and the fruit and floral elements rather reticent. The palate is another matter entirely - it's incredibly plush and layered with an array of ripe orchard fruits, flowers, and mineral notes, great complexity and remarkable focus and persistence. Still a really enjoyable wine to drink, but this didn't come close to the heights of other bottles I've had in the past.
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2/19/2015 - drwine2001 wrote:
Deep yellow. More citrus than stone fruit on the nose, only a trace of secondary aged Riesling aromas. Medium weight, definitely not as densely packed as some of these Austrian Smaragds. Dry, intense, bitter citrus, tea, and peach in descending order. Absolutely show stopping acidity and stone at the back end. A great bottle and the best showing since 2012. In between, I've had bottles that seemed tired in comparison.
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4/12/2014 - drwine2001 wrote:
Full yellow. Peach and black tea with a bit of honey. Very full bodied, powerful fruit and good back end minerality. By the end of the bottle, the barest notes of oxidation crept in. Looking back at my notes over the past few years, now I think there is little question that this has peaked and lost some energy and excitement. Still at a high level but would advise drinking up-not the 30 year wine I once thought it might be.
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12/15/2013 - mdefreitas wrote: 94 Points
Pre-Holiday Dinner @ Home: Uncanny how this can possess so much power yet be so weightless. A smack of citrus with a rocky saline wash in the finish. Lip pursingly good.
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12/15/2013 - salil wrote: 95 Points
This is superb. Powerful, complex, intense yet elegant with layers of stony and saline mineral notes, ripe citrus and stone fruits, and developing savoury and smoky elements all coming together seamlessly. There's fantastic balance here with bright acidity and great length. Fantastic Riesling, one to both drink and hold.
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4/3/2013 - salil wrote: 93 Points
Comes across younger than my last bottle with the fruit more intense and forward, but also framed by a vivid stoniness and maturing smoky flavours that emerge with air. As always with Hirtzberger, there's a remarkable combination of power and finesse here, and I'm glad I have a few more of this.
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2/10/2013 - salil wrote: 94 Points
What a great bottle. This is totally seamless, with so many layers of fruit, minerality, flowers and mature, deeper toned savoury notes coming together harmoniously on the nose and palate. There's that power and intensity I always expect from Hirtzberger but also a remarkable sense of lightness and precision here, and a finish that just keeps unfolding for minutes.
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1/2/2013 - drwine2001 wrote:
Full yellow. As with past bottles, powerful dried peach scents, but now for the first time, some petrol. Lush, even a bit oily. Just off dry stone fruit and lemon with tremendous acidity and soil kicking in as it goes. Fantastic and much more open than other bottles over the past couple of years. Either this has reached maturity much sooner than I anticipated or this was an atypically advanced bottle. Still plenty of time for this one way or the other.
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6/15/2012 - drwine2001 wrote:
Deep yellow. Intense nose of citrus and tea. Full bodied, dry, mouth filling and powerful. Dizzying array of lemon, peach and even a little pineapple all bound up by tremendous minerality. Fantastic dry Riesling.
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8/18/2011 - drwine2001 wrote:
Light yellow. Much fresher looking and smelling than the '96 Frederic Emile we also had tonight. Lots of material packed into a very small space-dense and powerful with strong quinine more than fruit tones. Little in the way of secondary development. The way it has shown over the past few years makes me think that it will continue to evolve glacially and be a 25 to 30 year wine.
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2/14/2011 - Vino Me wrote: 93 Points
Bohemian Duck Dinner (Pinot and Riesling) (New Buffalo, Michigan): Bought this on sale for $27 years ago (normally $50) and opened it this weekend with my wife's duck. This was better than either the 1998 or 2004 vintages of this wine. At 12 years old this wine was still going strong. It showed the depth, elegance and subtlety that age can bring out in a fine Riesling. Golden yellow color. Slight hint of petrol on the nose but not as much as you might expect. Notes of quince, grapefruit and fresh herbs. Strong mineral backbone. Long finish with a touch of sweetness. 93 points.
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1/12/2011 - wickedwax wrote:
On the nose aromas of lime and intense minerality of wet rocks. It also exhibits some peach, minty-herbal notes and a little bit of petrol. Gorgeous on the palate with bruleed lemon flavors carrying over a creamy texture. Brings wave after wave of flavor with beautiful balanced acidity giving it lift. Very good length.
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1/12/2011 - drwine2001 wrote:
Light to medium yellow. Powerful quinine and herbs. Totally dry, focused and striking an extraordinary balance between compact density and a sense of lightness. This has not budged much since I last tasted it in 2008.
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7/5/2008 - drwine2001 wrote:
Medium yellow with some green. This started out with creamy, herbal notes that would have had me guessing Gruner Veltliner instead of Riesling, but the Riesling elements of slate, grapefruit, and green apple gradually asserted themselves. Great acidity and minerality serve as the scaffolding for a seamless, medium bodied wine with an endless finish. Herbs including sage and pine notes persisted, along with a glorious, high toned floral/distillate quality. Complex, young, and altogether great.
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4/28/2008 - Mistress of Wine wrote: 95 Points
We had this at Pam and Geoff's yearly wine dinner, which has moved from Boston to Durham, but still draws the faithful from all over. This wine benefitted over the evening from aeration and warming, and paired well with everything from the grilled shrimp and white bean salad to the cheese course (I couldn't make myself finish it with the salad, and luckily, we had a bottle to have when everyone left the next day!)
Unusually complex nose combining orange peel, pineapple, some white flowers and strong mineral elements. Then it fans out very dry on the palate, with a lush finish seemingly lasting forever. This wine slayed me.
Several people who hadn't had dry riesling said it was the surprise discovery of the evening for them--I should buy my 2005 and 2006s before they all rush out and do it!
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7/16/2007 - winenutnyc wrote:
very unique nose of minerals and violets- mountain stream!- palate is a bit shut down at the moment and revealing only hints of fruit- tons of minerals with great structure that literally dances on the tongue- lightweight and focused. not at peak, but very interesting.
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12/30/2006 - vulgar little monkey wrote:
Really great bottle. Snappy gooseberries, flowers, and minerals on the nose. You can almost feel the nose as it is layered , textured, and rich. The palate is concentrated with essence of stone and pitted stone fruits, but without any heaviness at all. In fact, that is the big surprise with this wine, how it manages to convey such concentration without any heaviness. The finish is bright, linear, mineral, and dusted with white flowers. Has lost it's baby fat and is now a grown up. Killer.
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4/7/2005 - conadoc wrote: 95 Points
Tasted with marinated shrimp. Fresh, slightly spritzy, tasted of citrus and pignole nuts. Superb wine, always seems the Austrian whites taste better with food. Not so much a standalone wine. Elegant and wonderfully acidic.
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