Riesling Zöbinger Heiligenstein
2014
93 p. Wine Enthusiast, Anne Krebiehl, Sept. 2015:
Perfumed with floral, citric freshness this evokes jasmine blossom and cut grapefruit peel. The palate is of an exquisite lightness and a slight spritz adds extra zip to the already electric little number. Just one sip of this ultrapure, racy wine and you are thoroughly refreshed. This is a Riesling that spells summer.
2012
17 p Richard Hemming MW & Tamlyn Currin, The Great Riesling Revolution, May 2016
Smoky citrus and dill lifts out the glass. Despite the fennel and aniseed notes, there's a creaminess across the palate, but it's all tucked into to a sharp Bramley-apple framework. Chiselled-chalk finish.
92 p. Robert Parkers "The Wine Advocate", May 2014, review by David Schildknecht
Brundlmayer’s 2012 Riesling Heiligenstein delivers not only buddleia and lilac perfume but a bittersweet and invigorating palate impression akin to chomping on flowers. Stone, salt and iodine serve for dynamic and saliva-inducement if at the same time a hint of austerity, with infectiously juicy apple and lime serving for finishing refreshment. Here is another superb example of how richness can combine with buoyancy, vivacity and sheer sap in the best Riesling and Gruner Veltliner of the 2012 vintage.
92 p. Wine & Spirits Magazine, Tara Q. Thomas April 2014:
This wine seems to throw light from its mineral structure, a sparkle that imbues its herbal, lime leaf flavors with a brightness that's surprising, given the wine's otherwise rock-hard facade. It feels chiseled and precise, quiet and firm, poised to develop more detail with another five to ten years in the cellar.
94 p. Wine Enthusiast 01/2014
This is a pure, aesthetic wine, delicately outlined and shaped. With its citrus flavors, crisp lines and tight, taut acidity, it shows both great minerality and a sharp final focus on fruit and structure. Age this wine, and don’t drink before 2017.
2008
Very elegant clear bouquet of flowery, fruity aromas woven with dark mineral and spice; a fresh and very focused wine with medium body and a compact structure, stone fruit (peaches) and citrus on the palate; well balanced, vibrating but never unpleasant acidity and a very elegant mineral finish;
2004
Exotic, this offers floral, talcum powder and lemon aromas and flavors on a lively structure. It´s graceful and precise, with a mouthwatering finish. (Wine Spectator 2006)
2003
Exotic, musky florality and lemon oil aromas. Lilac, honey, apple and lemon in the mouth, with salt-and-pepper minerality as well as sweet herbal accents. Grainy but not rough in texture, and long but discreet on the finish. (Stephen Tanzer´s International Wine Cellar)
2002
Spicy and minerally, pure, refined with citrus flavours. Fresh, dry and mouthwatering. (Jancis Robinson, UK)
2002
Guava and talc aromas, more warmed-fruit on the mid-palate. Amazingly clear and vivid interplay. "Potential one-star" as David Schildknecht would say. (Terry Theise Selections/Michael Skurnik Wines, NY)
2001
Bründlmayer coaxed a powerful wine from the ancient Zöbinger Heiligenstein vineyard in 2001. The wine is as golden in taste as it is in color, brimming with yellow peach and golden raisin fruit, immediately winning. But it´s also hugely complex, weaving cumin spice and lavender aromas into its beeswax-like texture, along with a Chablisienne sense of yeast and minerality. It´s a gorgeous, sophisticated wine; as one taster put it "the Chanel of Riesling"."
As solid and impressive as the hill it grows on, which is a mound of rock so ancient the area has been declared a national monument, Willi Bründlmayer´s Zöbinger Heiligenstein is more than a gorgeous riesling packed with sun, fruit and minerals. It´s a piece of history - especially once it´s given the ten or twenty years of age nearly every vintage deserves. (Tara Q. Thomas´/Wine & Spirits, 2004)
1999
Extraordinary combination of elements; muscle and focus, tropical fruit and mineral, spicy; exotic, papaya, lychee, ginger-vanilla, firm, dense and minerally. (Terry Theise Selections/Michael Skurnik Wines, NY)
1997
Brilliant Riesling. Floral, peach and orange-peel notes are interwoven with spice and mineral elements in this racy yet intensely flavored beauty. All harmony and finesse, its richness is balanced by refreshing acidity. Fine length. (Wine Spectator)
1996
Interesting perfume and flowery character. Quite un-Riesling-like. Tea roses. Crisp balancing acidity. (The Vine, Clive Coates)
1996
Subtle aromas of flowers, herbs and citrus. Mineral accents to the rich, rather low-tones pitted fruit flavors. Very juicy, long finish. Poised, elegant, multifaceted wine. (Stephen Tanzer´s International Wine Cellar)
1995
The nose of this wine is instantly expressive of a great vineyard; it always happens! Indeed this is the entire chromatic sacle of Riesling aromas here; silky-smooth, glass-clear, a thousand facets of glimmer; remarkable dialectic of sweet fruits and tart, herbal notes; with lime and tarragon emerging; (Terry Theise Selections/Michael Skurnik Wines, NY)
1995
Lovely, rich pear and peach flavors dominate this round, vibrant white. It has a soft texture and a dry, refreshing finish. (Wine Spectator)
1994
Dense and very concentrated; very good extract. Has a perfumed quality in the mouth, and some fascinating high tones. Long, subtle aftertaste. This sandstone-rich soil produces less minerally flavor than does granite; the wines develop slowly and do not turn petrolly. (Stephen Tanzer´s International Wine Cellar)
1993
The nose of this wine is instantly expressive of a great vineyard; it always happens! Lemon-blossom and volcanic spice; so juicy and so minty and peppery; a fabulous wine; Muscular, bright-gleaming in fact-and long. Entirely original, entirely stunning. A whisper of lychee in the finish to an eccentric classic. (Terry Theise Selections/Michael Skurnik Wines, NY)
1990
...particular old roses Heiligenstein flavour. Delicious. Will keep for ages. (The Vine, Clive Coates)
1988
Rich, dry, very ripe, very vigorous. Very fine long complex classy finish. This is excellent. Years ahead of it. (The Vine, Clive Coates)
1985
Refined, elegant nose. Nicely ripe. Very good fruit. (The Vine, Clive Coates)
1971, June 2013, 92 p, Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Austrian Dinner at Guy Savoy, Singapore
Though the 1971 Riesling Spätlese wasn't my highest quality wine of the night, it was my favorite drink, offering commendable sweetness/acid harmony and just enough depth from maturity to provide interest without taxing the brain too much.
1971
A very rich year. Splendid nose. Quite dryish. Very lovely complex fruit. Sweeter on the palate. Mellow, marvellous flowers and fruits. Splendid grip. Still very alive. Will last for years. (The Vine, Clive Coates)
