JAMES SUCKLING - 95 POINTS Very ripe and spicy, but with lovely freshness, this is a very serious 2021 gruner veltliner! Ripe and succulent, with an impressive tannin structure behind all the richness. Plenty of stony and warm-earth minerality at the long, beautifully proportioned finish. Drink or hold.
WINE ADVOCATE - 93 POINTS Franz Hirtzberger's 2021 Ried Kirchweg Wösendorfer Grüner Veltliner Smaragd opens with clear, bright, elegant and finely spiced, dense and very ripe, concentrated fruit. Dense, elegant and with fine tannic structure on the palate, this is a juicy, enormously rich and substantial Veltliner, with a firm structure but little animation at present, though with an almost stunning finish. Tasted at Schloss Dürnstein, Wachau, in September 2022.
WINE ADVOCATE - 93 POINTS Franz Hirtzberger's 2021 Ried Kirchweg Wösendorfer Grüner Veltliner Smaragd opens with clear, bright, elegant and finely spiced, dense and very ripe, concentrated fruit. Dense, elegant and with fine tannic structure on the palate, this is a juicy, enormously rich and substantial Veltliner, with a firm structure but little animation at present, though with an almost stunning finish. Tasted at Schloss Dürnstein, Wachau, in September 2022.