Fermentation and maturation for the 2006 Riesling Smaragd Kellerberg were of similarly long duration to the Gruner Veltliner from this site. And in fact, low-toned suggestions of peach, musk melon, coffee, and caramelized root vegetables here as well as a rather plump structure put one distinctly in mind of Gruner Veltliner. There is site-typical pepper in the finish, but somewhat coarsely deployed, and accompanied by a hint of heat. This may need more time in bottle to show its stuff, and one should revisit the wine later this year to assess its cellar potential. Certainly its sheer richness is imposing. I am delighted to report that with 2006, director Roman Horvath and oenologist Heinz Frischengruber have brought the Freie Weingartner coop back to the front ranks of Austrian viticulture. Any who have followed – sometimes with frustration and sorrow – the past half dozen years in the history of this Wachau institution can only express relief, admiration, and elation. Success here is all the more important to American consumers today, inasmuch as wine from most of the top Wachau addresses is becoming unaffordable for many of us to drink on a regular basis, not to mention for restaurants to offer by the glass. If a few of the lower-level, higher-volume bottlings this year represented a slight dip in quality, that was to be expected given the nature of the vintage and the huge number of growers who supply fruit to this venture. For similar reasons, the Freie Weingartner were bound to deal with a certain amount of botrytis this year, but in the dry wines they seem to have retained only that which would confer positive spice and richness, bottling some improbably successful and refined sweet wines as an outlet for the rest.Importer: Vin Divino, Chicago, IL; tel. (773) 334-6700.
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