Franz Hirtzberger, Riesling Hochrain Smaragd, 2024

Another of Hirtzberger's celebrated Spitz crus, this one with a slightly different signature — Hochrain sits on weathered crystalline rock with a thin overlay of sandy loam, which gives the Smaragd a touch more flesh than its purely gneiss-bound siblings. Still unmistakably Wachau: cool, mineral, vertical, built for the long haul. 2024 brought clarity and tension to the vineyard, and the result is a Riesling that opens with white peach and apricot before tightening into citrus oil, dried herbs, and a long crushed-stone finish. Franz Hirtzberger Jr. now leads the family estate his father turned into a Wachau benchmark, and Hochrain is one of the wines that explains why the address commands the loyalty it does.