Franz Hirtzberger, Singerriedel Riesling Smaragd, Wachau 2021 - 75cl
This is dry Riesling at the top of its game — and worth clearing up the first question straight away: Smaragd means dry. Powerfully, seriously dry. It's the highest rung of the Wachau's own classification, reserved for the ripest grapes left latest on the vine, and it has nothing to do with sweetness.
The Singerriedel is the vineyard that made Franz Hirtzberger's name. It rises almost vertically above the village of Spitz, its terraces cut into gneiss and mica schist, angled south-southwest to catch the sun while cool air spills down from the Waldviertel behind. That push and pull — heat by day, chill by night — is what gives the wine its tension. The Vinea Wachau rules forbid chaptalisation, sweetening and, for Smaragd, any real oak influence, so what reaches the glass is the site, unvarnished.
Expect ripe apricot and white peach on the nose, a flick of citrus zest, then the mineral signature of the slope — crushed stone, flint, a saline edge. The palate is where the Smaragd power shows: concentrated, broad-shouldered, yet cut clean by racing acidity that keeps it long and precise rather than heavy. The 2021 vintage across the Wachau gave exactly this kind of balance, ripeness and freshness in equal measure. Approachable now with air, but this has the structure to age for a decade or more, when the fruit turns to honey and petrol.
Bring it out for an occasion you want to lift quietly — it rewards attention.
How to Serve
Serve at 10-12°C in a fine white-wine glass. No decant needed, though a young bottle opens up over an hour in the glass.
Where to Drink It
Bentley's, over a plate of native oysters or grilled Dover sole. Scott's, where the seafood counter and this wine's mineral cut are made for each other.
Food Pairings
Turbot or halibut with brown butter is my pick — the wine's weight can stand up to richness while its acidity keeps things bright. Roast pork with crackling is the sleeper hit.
