The Hirtzberger 2010 Gruner Veltliner Smaragd Axpoint exhibits a typical enhancement of body vis-a-vis Rotes Tor, here ascending to 14% alcohol; and suggestions of pit fruit distillate are tinged with coffee and marjoram. A vaguely Chablis-like sense of meat stock mingled with lemon and herbs informs this wine’s expansive, silken palate, and it finishes with low-toned richness and just a faint hint of heat. As these vines age, the corresponding wine is taking on depth and a more distinctive personality. I’m still inclined, though, to hedge my bets in aging it and to anticipate its wanting to be drunk within the next 6-8 years. Given the penchant at this address for late harvest; considerable skin contact; and must aeration, I was not surprised to learn from Franz Hirtzberger Junior that only their Riesling Federspiel had been at all de-acidified. “If there’d been even a bit more hanging out there though,” he notes “then we wouldn’t have made it” – i.e. acheived ripe grapes. “We learned our lesson from 1996,” as Hirtzberger Senior saw it, namely not to harvest – despite ongoing crop loss and fear of ignoble rot (though in this case that didn’t materialize) – until the acids finally began to diminish and the skins to properly ripen. Importer: Vin Divino, Chicago, IL; tel. (773) 334-6700

The essence of Gruner Veltliner is present in this magnificent wine. It is rich, the spice of the fruit translated into lychee exoticism. The acidity is always present, giving shape to this luscious (but dry) wine. ——R.V.(10/1/2011)—— 95