Destined to have been bottled in July, Alzinger 2010 Riesling Smaragd Steinertal takes the smoky, stony, pepper and tobacco themes familiar from this great site in what, for this vintage, is a surprisingly tropical direction, papaya, grapefruit, and tart pineapple lusciously expansive yet brightly invigorating. Vintage typical pungent green herbal essences add to the intensity of an almost riotous finish. The coming decade should regularly reward any who hold bottles of this beauty, and may well bring focus and organization to its flavors such that with hindsight one will conclude that its true nature was not yet evident – or at any rate barely glimpsed – in June of 2011.The Alzingers didn’t begin harvesting until the third week of October in 2010 and continued until November 18. Riesling Federspiel alone was de-acidified (as must). Leo Alzinger senior confirmed the judgment of other Wachau veterans that there was no known precedent for the combination of high acidity; sugar; and extract with genuine phenolic ripeness and next to no botrytis. (Somehow I missed out, incidentally, on tasting this year’s Liebenberg Riesling Smaragd.)Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300

So steely and mineral-driven, this is an intensely crisp wine, with concentrated fresh apple flavors over a texture that shows pear skins and orange zest. Acidity and spice combine on the finish. ——R.V.(10/1/2010)—— 94

A smoky sweet pungency marks the nose of the Alzinger 2007 Riesling Smaragd Steinertal, which saturates the palate with ripe musk melon and honeydew. Notes of blond tobacco, high-toned herbal essences, inner-mouth floral perfume, and wood smoke remind one of the extent to which this site imprints its wines, and to which one might in this instance easily imagine a Gruner Veltliner to be in one’s glass. The sense of cool refreshment here defies the wine’s site-typical (and perhaps marginally botrytis-reinforced) pungency, and here is another instance in this collection of remarkable sheer extract sweetness (as the analysis says “dry,” but your palate doesn’t entirely). The kaleidoscopic range of finishing savor cannot be captured with other than mineral vocabulary (and even then, not); it is stunning. If this wine doesn’t cause you to act like Pavlov’s pooch, I suspect none ever will.Leo Alzinger senior’s lucid account of the 2007 vintage can be found in the general introduction to this report. After the extraordinary collection that he and his son, Leo, fielded from 2006, its successor – while different in personality – did not disappoint one bit. (I don’t know whether this was punishment for past sins, but I am sorry to have to report that your correspondent was not offered an opportunity to taste Riesling Smaragd bottlings from Liebenberg and Hohereck.)Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300