3 | Austria, $20 to $50

"Brilliant peridot color. Pungent medicinal herb, melon rind, bitter lemon peel, cinnamon bark, and spicy meringue aromas follow through on a brisk, lively entry to a mildly sweet medium-full body with wintermint, honey, camphor, and clove accents. Finishes with a long, mint leaf and aniseed husk fade. Tasted louched as an absinthe cocktail: Round, balanced with great interplay of mint, spice, herb, citrus, dried flowers and milder bitter artemesia pontica notes. Very refreshing as an aperitif or digestif; would make a brilliant introduction to absinthe."

"Rich and lush, with concentrated glazed apricot, lemon, buttercream and baked apple flavors. The long finish features spice and white chocolate."

"A classic varietal nose of fresh green bean and lime, mingled with gooseberry more reminiscent of Sauvignon, all informing a juicy, brisk, firm palate and finishing with ample refreshment and invigoration as well as a bitter note of fruit pip."

"I find this lightweight Riesling best imagined as a salad of cucumber and fennel lightly-salted and dressed with lime. That the juicy satisfaction to be derived is simple does not make it less delightful, and you may find it difficult to refrain from imbibing the next glass and the next. I would plan on polishing stocks off over the next couple of years, though."

"Hirsch reported that his 2010 Riesling Zobing seemed not to have bounced back and regained its purity of fruit from bottling even though that was two months before I tasted it in mid-June. Bottle shock or any sort of inhibition were however the last notions that would have crossed my mind! It might be a bit spare, but this exuberantly juicy, bright and (at 11.5% alcohol) buoyant amalgam of fresh lime, grapefruit, and white peach garlanded with musky floral perfume and seemingly suffused with crushed stone, salt, and crystalline mineral dust is sheer bottled energy, which should be great fun to unleash at table over the next 3-5 years."