Austria 2022

The 2022 Grüner Veltliner Treu is taut, elegant, and effortless to drink. There’s some of Grüner’s signature white pepper and celery notes on the nose, while on the palate the wine shows loads of phenolic freshness, with lots of intense, creamy fruit that belies its status as a village level wine. We had to check (several times) that we hadn’t mistaken this for a single vineyard cuvée, and this is the best value wine from the estate, if not the entire Wachau Valley.

The Kollmitz hill – not to be confused with the larger, nearby hill of Kollmütz – is located in the village of Joching, just north of Mathias’ home in Wösendorf. And the wine itself is even more complex and nuanced than the naming conventions of neighbouring Austrian hills. There’s inviting tangerine zest, grapefruit, and yellow tropical fruits notes that jump out of the glass, while the steely acidity and sleek finish make this an absolute joy to drink. If there’s any proof you need that Mathias Hirtzberger is among the country’s top echelon of Riesling growers, this 2022 Riesling Ried Kollmitz is it.

The 2022 Riesling Zier is particularly cool on the nose, with notes of lemon sherbet and grapefruit. There’s plenty of freshness to be found here, and it would be hard to find a better summer wine for the table, but it’s got the legs to age if you can resist drinking it.

The Spitaler cuvée is sourced from just the old vines in the vineyard, which were planted back in 1962. There’s plenty of old-vine intensity and complexity in this, without losing any of the lift and energy that defines Mathias’ wines. There’s some honeyed yellow apple on the nose, while fresh pineapple and delicate spicy notes grace the palate. It will be hard not to tuck in to this bottle straight away, but patience will be well rewarded.

With its impressive dry stone walls, the imposing Kollmütz vineyard is the defining landmark of the village of Wösendorf where Mathias Hirtzberger and his wife Hanna are based. Mathias’ wines are defined by their freshness and weightless energy, and this impressive Grüner Veltliner is a perfect illustration of what the young winemaker can do. In 2022 the Kollmütz shows the same creamy texture of the region’s best wines, but is perhaps the most balanced and lifted example of any Smaragd Grüner from the vintage we’ve tried.