Heron Hill Dry Riesling 2021 / 750 ml.

The 2021 Dry Riesling, colloquially known as the “classic” dry Riesling, comes in with only half a gram of residual sugar and 8.34 of total acidity, plus 10.58% alcohol. That’s a pretty crisp wine on paper and in fact. Winemaker Jordan Harris said that beginning with the 2020 vintage, “a lot of our wines have started a little shift stylistically… So, the dry is aimed at being truly dry. Will there be years where the acid level means stopping with a couple grams, maybe, but that hasn’t been the case for a couple years.” In bottle about six weeks when seen, this didn’t seem to show any bottle shock, but it sure was unevolved. That’s not going to be a problem that is fixed in a few more weeks. Rather, I’d say this could use a year or two in the bottle. There are plenty of sharp edges here and there is very little relief from them, as neither the sugar nor the fruit balances the acidity at this juncture. That was true even after I let it air out and warm up a bit. That said, I still rather liked this, and it may well develop favorably. If you open it now (and probably well into the future), it is the type of wine that requires a food pairing. It won’t do well on its own. In terms of aging and evaluation, let’s be a little conservative just now. It has some questions to answer. Put it away until next year, at least. (Mark Squires)