2004 Riesling Smaragd Singerriedel

As Franz Hirtzberger Junior's younger brother Mathias has now returned to the estate, the family is engaged in starting a second winery in Wösendorf that will be called Weinhof Meisterei. Mathias, who was born in 1986, studied banking after earning his enological degree, but feels more at home in the world of wine than of financial investments. Having inherited vineyards through both his mother and his relative Anton Hirtzberger, he has already purchased, with the help of his father, the house in which the Restaurant Florianhof is currently located and he plans to crush his first vintage there this fall. In the beginning, the two estates will work together, but they plan a clear split a few years down the road.

While I have concentrated on the 2013s and various older vintages in my notes, I did taste a few 2014s from cask with the family during my visit in February. While the '14s appear to be much better than their reputation, quality came at a price. Not only is volume down, but only 20% of the harvest will be marketed as Smaragd, compared to as much as two-thirds in a better year.

Although this estate is based in Spitz at the cooler, western end of the Wachau, Hirtzberger nonetheless tends to prune for somewhat larger crops so that the grapes do not ripen too quickly, which allows him to harvest as late as possible, often well into November. It is not about alcohol but phenolic ripeness. Without any doubt, the Hirtzberger Smaragds are rich, dense and opulent. Although they might appear to be too much of a good thing in their youth, they age extremely well, as all of my ten-years-after tastings have proven. Anyone who drinks these wines in their youth is throwing money out the window.

I tasted all these wines shortly after the Smaragd wines were bottled in April, and then again in early September, by which point the wines had profited from some bottle maturation. Hirtzberger displayed a great deal of patience in a vintage where nearly all Smaragd wines show botrytis hints of caramel and honey. He believes that the Smaragd wines from 2004 will evolve well, but I suspect that only the best of them will remain in good condition for more than five years or so. The 2004 harvest began on November 10 and ended at the beginning of December, making this the latest harvest ever recorded here. In the famed riesling vineyard Singerriedel, nearly all grapes were botrytis-affected, and this has had a strong influence on the character of the wine.With the harvest team hand-selecting the grapes, and often bringing in only a few kilos per hour, it was possible for Franz Senior and Junior to produce a series of wines that were surprisingly approachable from the very beginning.