The Hirtzberger 2009 Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese Singerriedel – representing, like its B.A. counterpart, an early, post-precipitation (but also post-B.A., mid-October) culling of botrytized bunches – mingles mirabelle, apricot, and peach preserves; honey, caramel, and nougat in an almost syrupy concentrate that is at the same time saturated with lemon juice. Somehow – perhaps it’s a matter of this wine’s sheer density – there is not the sweet-tart bifurcation exhibited by the B.A., but instead an impression of near-implosive pit fruit concentration in a caressingly, creamily viscous yet nearly weightless medium, shot through with quickening, saliva-inducing electricity and salinity. This elegant, actively engaging, indeed downright irresistible elixir ought to be worth following for at least a quarter century, provided of course you can latch-on to 375 ml. of its 200 liter volume, which, incidentally, is not really a tiny amount when compared with past Hirtzberger T.B.A.s. 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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