Tasted from cask, the Hiedler 2010 Weissburgunder Maximum is Gruner Veltliner-like in its pungent scents of tobacco, citrus oils, and herbs. Its corpulence also puts me in mind of Gruner Veltliner, however, that grape is better able to balance the sort of alcohol – something over 14%, though it hadn’t been measured yet – that one finds in this Pinot Blanc. Happily, there is a refreshing and saliva-inducing marine salinity as well as iodine-tinged shrimp shell reduction that carry all the way through. The present dense exemplar of Hiedler’s top Pinot Blanc is chewier and less creamy than I anticipate for this cuvee, but it’s certainly formidable even if far from charming. (Hiedler’s Chardonnay from this vintage – although I sampled it – had not finished its alcoholic or malo-lactic fermentations as of early June.)Ludwig Hiedler – whose overall account of vintage 2010 can be found leading-off my introduction to this report – notes that “given such a small crop, ripeness wasn’t that bad once you got into October; and we started picking relatively early so as not to risk further crop loss and so as to avoid botrytis. All that was left to pick in November was the Heiligenstein and Maximum Riesling; Weissburgunder and Chardonnay; and the Kittmannsberg (Gruner Veltliner),” that last a good thing, since Hiedler has for years bottled its fruits under the name “November Harvest” (recently shortened to “November”)! Hiedler has taken an increasingly passive and leisurely approach to fermentation and elevage – as described in my introductions to his 2005 and 2006 collections in issues 160 and 177, where further details on the sites he farms will also be found. His wines tend to undergo malo-lactic transformation as a matter of course, not to mention enjoy long lees contact, and thus his approach to ameliorating 2010’s high acidity was already a foregone conclusion.Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300
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