The Hirtzbergers’ 2010 Neuburger Smaragd is broad but juicy, with white asparagus, raw hazelnut, and an infusion of herbs joined by hints of apple pip in a finish of satisfying length. It lacks, though, the textural allure that one counts on from the best examples of this nowadays largely neglected variety, not to mention the best past instances chez Hirtzberger. I would plan on enjoying it over the next 2-3 years, notwithstanding Neuburger’s proclivity in the best cases to age impressively. 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
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