On the 14th of April Johannes Hirsch from Weingut Hirsch
visited Oslo for a tasting. The tasting should focus
mostly on the riesling from Gaisberg, serving the seven
last vintages of this wine.
For those not knowing Weingut Hirsch is a austrian
winemaker situated in Kammern, just east of Langenlois,
in the Kamptal-region. It's a family-run business since 1878,
today the 25 hektars are run by Johannes and his father
Josef. They go towards the trend in Austria where more and
more people are trying to make red-wine. 100% percent of
the wines are now white; the focus on the classical
grape-varieties in the area; grüner veltliner and riesling.
The single-vineyard-wines are Heiligenstein; the more
famous site of the region, Gaisberg; situated a little
further east, north of Kammern and Lamm, south of
Heiligenstein. The vineyards consists of slate and granite.
Weingut Hirsch selects and plants the riesling on the more
rocky parts and the grüner veltliner in parts with more
loess.
In the winemaking Johannes Hirsch makes some good choices.
Fertilizers are not used. Only goat's manure from his
neighbours goat-farm.
The grapes are fermented with natural, non-cultivated, yeasts
only, leaaving the dry wines with a little more residual
sugar than the norm (normally 3-7 g/L.). According to
Johannes Hirsch this makes his dry riesling a little more
age-worthy. The pressing is done by whole-cluster pressing.
The wines are not fined and there is now a
tendency of an extended period of contact with the yeasts
with a bottling in April and one in September. From 2003
there will only be bottling done in September. The wines are
aged in stainless steel with temperature-control during
fermentation. As of
2002 the full range of wines is bottled with screw-cap.
Generally the wines from Weingut Hirsch tastes very cleanly
made with focus on fruit, minerality and structure. Botrytis
is not welcomed in the wines and are selected away. In the
tasting we tasted 2 vintages of Heiligenstein and 7 from
Gaisberg. I have to admit that I did not find huge
differences between the two vineyards. To me the Gaisberg
had a very fine nose, consisting of a more cleanly slate and
rocky fruit, always with an element of lime. The
Heiligenstein had a little broader nose and looked to have
a better structure of the acids in the mouth, integrating
better throught the taste. Generally I liked the nose
best in the Gaisberg and the taste better in the
Heiligenstein. But there seemed to be larger differences
between the vintages than between the two vineyards.
Hirsch Grüner Veltliner Trinkvergnügen #3 2004
This is Hirsch's basic line GV from a blend of vineyards.
The 2004 is according to Johannes Hirsch a typical austrian
vintage with some rain during autumn and plenty of
botrytis (that was selected away). The wine had a light
straw/green colour. Fresh nose with hints of apricot, green
leafs and a little hint of spices. Light GV in the mouth
with medium concentration. GV on it's fruity and fresh side
with fine acids. A light but distict peppery finish. The
daily quaffer. Good, but simple.
Grüner Veltliner Heiligenstein 2003
Straw/green colour. Sweeter nose with a slight hint of honey
and minerals. Good body. A little fatness in the entrance.
More GV in style with more pepperiness in the fruit. Also
more minerality and depth. Lower acids and bottled with a
slight spritz to give it freshness. A step up in quality
and IMO clearly worth the extra cost from the first GV.
Zöbing riesling 2003
Straw/green colour. Fruity nose. More aromatic. A bit
perfumed. Slight stones. Good body, lighter than the previous
and quite elegant for the vintage. Medium acids. A slight
spritz. Not any
great depth. Drinking nicely now. Fine for the price.
Gaisberg riesling 2003
Straw/green colour. More mineral, stoney nose. More sub-dued
in the nose. Almost like a young Wehlener Sonnenuhr. Good body.
Mineral, but showing more of the warmth in the mouth. A bit
soft for this grape and again with a slight spritz giving a
little more freshness.
Heiligenstein riesling 2003
Straw/green colour. A little different minerality in this one.
Broader, perhaps with a little more earth and less of the
rocky character in the Gaisberg. Good body. More fatness in
the entrance. But better balance with acids and the slight
spritz which I found in all the 2003's.
Gaisberg riesling 2002
Straw/green colour. More elegant nose, less fruit and more
green, limey and floral with a light touch of petrol.
Mineral. A touch fat in the mouth here also, but fine and
elegant.
Better acids and longer taste. This was nice, and better,
after all the ripe 2003's.
Heiligenstein riesling 2002
Straw/green colour. More flowery and elegant on the nose
than the 03. A slight touch of petrol. Fine minerals. This
is good. Goo body. Elegant style. Impressive acids-structure
that carries a fine taste-curve and length. Fine mineral
notes. One of my favourites of the day.
Gaisberg riesling 2001
Straw/green colour. A bit sweeter nose, fruity, limey,
flowery and fine rocky minerals. Full-bodied and more
concentrated than the 02. But also with a great structure.
Young, fresh and elegant. Very good. My favourite wine
of the day.
Gaisberg riesling 2000
Straw/green colour. More evolved nose with a lot of petrol,
soem apricot and flowers. Some elegance. Medium body and
a little lower concentration. Also lower acids. Still
elegant and one to drink earlier. Good now. A minor
vintage of this wine.
Gaisberg riesling 1999
Straw/yellow colour. The first wine to show any age in the
colour. Intence flowery and petrolly nose. But still a bit
closed. Good body and fully concentrated in the mouth.
Mature notes of petrol and flowers. But again does not
show that much. Fine acids. Good length. A very good wine,
but not in a good phase right now. Leave it for 3-4 years.
Gaisberg riesling 1998
In this vintage Johannes Hirsch did what he never do: he
blended in botrytised grapes. So this is really the
different one. Deep yellow colour. Nose shows honey,
botrytis and flors. Slight petrol. Full-bodied and
concentrated in the mouth. Fatter style and lacking the
elegance of the other vintages. Less mineral and with a
sweeter more intence fruit-character. And the botrytis.
My least favourite of the Gaisbergs.
Gaisberg riesling 1997
Straw/green colour. More limey and green nose with fine
hints of minerals and flowers. Strangely young in style.
Good body and concentrated wine. Good acid-structure, but
the fruit in the mouth also shows strangely young. Almost
like the 2002. Elegant style and very fine, but needs more
time. My second favourite of the Gaisbergs.