The Hirtzbergers’ “village level” 2009 Riesling Beerenauslese Spitzer is a virtual (legal) T.B.A. sourced primarily from the Singerriedel. Nutmeg-tinged, honey-drizzled, subtly caramelized apricot preserves are mingled slightly awkwardly with bright lemon citricity on an at once creamily viscous and slightly sharp palate. Chewy fruit skin character and piquancy of fruit pit add a further element of counterpoint as well as invigoration to a long, mouthwatering finish. I suspect this will lose some of its sweet-tart sense of bifurcation with a few years in bottle. Certainly this bottling (consisting of 1,000 500 ml. bottles) makes an impressively brash statement, and I suspect it will be worth following for 15-20 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 product of what Irmgard Hirtzberger calls “a very clean, beautiful botrytis” that could easily be selected, a 2006 Riesling Beerenauslese (which had not yet been bottled when I tasted it) smells of candied lime peel, malt, honey, and wood smoke. With a striking juxtaposition of creaminess and subtle oiliness of texture with brightness of citrus and pit fruits, it fills the mouth with fresh lime, plum and apricot jam, and honey, with hints of white raisin and apricot kernel and citrus zest piquancy. This vivid, pure, refined Riesling combines (in nobly sweet form) the brightness and wafting elegance of this year’s Hochrain with the pit fruit intensity of the Singerriedel, and has an extraordinary reach that reminds me of Johannes Leitz’s joke, “it would take a giraffe to do this justice.” Dubbed “Beerenauslese” despite nearly 200 grams residual sugar (which you’d never guess, as it is balanced by more than eleven grams of acidity) this is as fine as any Austrian botrytis Riesling I have tasted, even including its amazing vintage 2005 predecessor. Importer: Vin Divino, Chicago, IL; tel. (773) 334-6700

I was about rung out of superlatives by this time in our tasting session, but Hirtzberger had by no means finished his performance. A trio of nobly sweet wines awaited. Some nobly botrytized fruit could also be salvaged from Singerriedel this year, and forms the major part of 500 liters of 2005 Riesling Beerenauslese which I tasted from tank. Typical apricot jam aromas of this site are accented by brown spices and a poof of smoke. The palate is creamy and rich, yet elegant, refined, and elevated by efficacious, vintage-typical ripe acidity. Subtle honey, brown spices, and apricot preserve combine with a remarkable amount of fresh apricot fruit and fruit skin character for a sensational super-concentrate. Roasted richness, pure honeyed ennoblement, and a fresh fruit matrix that promotes elegance, lift, and fluidity: this has it all. “The secret of a really good Beerenauslese,” claims Hirtzberger – in a remark reminiscent of the Mosel’s Willi Schaefer – “is to retain juiciness and to be truly selective.” Also recommended: 2005 Gruner Veltliner Steinfeder Donaugarten (not available; 85).Importer: Vin Divino, Chicago, IL; tel. (773) 334-6700