2015 Riesling Smaragd Höhereck

“I’m happy with the results of this vintage,” remarked Leo Alzinger junior, “but the route there wasn’t so simple. Temperatures were high all year, but initially it didn’t appear that this was going to be a year of unusually early harvest. In the end, we started picking in the last week of September and went until the third week of October, but under far from ideal conditions that month, because it kept raining off and on. Fortunately, we kept botrytis pretty much under control, though ultimately there was some.” That the Smaragde, rich in texture and flavor though they are, top out at under 13.5 percent alcohol certainly confirms Alzinger’s success in controlling botrytis. But two Grüner Veltliner from the ostensible top sites, in their relatively lack of clarity or animation, also betray the aforementioned conditions. Several Rieslings here display the prominent, vintage-atypical acidity remarked on by other Loiben growers and by all accounts hard to explain given what we know of the growing season. (For details concerning this estate’s vineyards, practices and recent history, readers are invited to consult the extended introduction to my report on its 2013s.)