1998 Franz Hirtzberger Riesling Smaragd Singerriedel

Community Tasting Notes (8) Avg Score: 93.2 points

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  2/19/2023 - NoTrollingerPlease Likes this wine: 92 Points

  Glass: Zalto Bordeaux
  Popped and poured, drunk over two days. Clear, medium deep golden-amber color with lots of tartaric acid.
  Pronounced botrytis nose, spicy, lots of sweet fruit and a hint of cellar mold. Complex and deep.
  On the palate legally dry, some noticeable residual sugar. The racy acidity balances the 14% abv very well. This is certainly not a perfect bottle, but it still shows its complexity and greatness. This is for me one of the best examples, how great dry Botrytis driven Riesling can be. Super intense, complex, spicy, lots of ripe fruit, creamy, beautiful texture and energy. Long and complex finish. In an optimal state for sure 95+ (if you like Botrytis). This bottle was not optimal and had some cellar mold notes in nose and palate, but was still very joyful, hence 91-92

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  11/17/2018 - NoTrollingerPlease Likes this wine: 96 Points

  Best of Austria and some other supplements (@home): Glas: Zalto Universal
  Bottle opened about 1h before. Not decanted. Medium, golden-amber color, a bit hazy, not filtered. This vintage is special, because of the high botrytis share.
  Clean, medium+ intense, fully developed and super complex nose: Honey, acacia, dried fruit, meadow herbs, mineral notes. Intense and very beautiful.
  Dry, medium+, ripe acidity. 14% abv. On the palate a stunner! An explosion of botrytis flavors: Honey, ripe yellow stone fruit, herbs, acacia and beautiful mineral notes. Great tension and pressure. Lots of extract. Very complex and ripe. This is rich and almost extreme. You either love it or hate it. Very, very, very long! Potential for at least another decade! Great wine. 96+

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  6/4/2015 - MQuentel@web.de Likes this wine: 91 Points

  Dark yellow gold with bronze reflections. Significant botrytis aromatik with much of dried fruits, dried herbs and brioche. On the palate, the wine is surprisingly dry, concentrated, plenty of apricot and dried fruits with spicy notes, wild and heathland honey, star anise. Spreading and voluminous; at the same time with a pure mineral vein, good acidity; stands long on the palate. Exceptional vintage with exceptional aromas image. -no other vintage of Singerriedel is like this one; almost all botrytis grapes were harvested late in the Singerriedel. Drink now, increasingly academic in the next few years.

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  5/16/2009 - Spencer wrote: 93 Points

  Perhaps just starting on the downslope, but this is still a compelling bottle of wine. Perfectly balanced and "of its place."

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  2/10/2008 - DaleW wrote:

  Much bigger Riesling. Dry, but with a ripe fruit profile. Peach, honey, apricot. Some earth and smoke notes. Powerful, good, but I think I preferred the Alzinger from a lesser vintage overall. B+

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