Like its Gruner Veltliner counterpart, the Domane Wachau 2007 Riesling Smaragd Kellerberg was not set to be bottled before September, and I last tasted it from barrel. (I applaud this team's setting an example by giving at least two of their top wines an added opportunity for cask evolution. Who knows, worldwide recession might encourage more to do the same, although right now there is no sign that the Wachau's top growers will cease selling out their wines on or before arrival.) Fresh apple and grapefruit lend a juicy vivacity to this seemingly largely botrytis-free Riesling, but it certainly shares with others in this collection a sense of palpable density that should be nicely complimented (and an emerging sense of creaminess nurtured) by its further stay on the lees. Finishing surprisingly treble in tone for this site but with the predicable pepper, this should be worth following from bottle for at least 4-5 years. Roman Horvath and Heinz Frischengruber are on a roll now, so one wants to root for their retaining the marvelous value that has distinguished Freie Weingartner wines in their best periods, because top-flight Wachau wines at prices like theirs are scarcely available anywhere else. Yields on Gruner Veltliner in 2007 were a bit high for optimal, Frischengruber opines, but then, the yields in Riesling obviously came at the expense of botrytis. And it goes without saying that selectivity is a challenge in coop situations, even though one which the team here has previously proven themselves capable of meeting. Nearly 40% of production was picked as Steinfeder, a quality grade all but missing last year, and whose volume in this vintage permitted enhanced attention to the fruit that remained for Federspiel and Smaragd. All of the wines reviewed below are bottled under the -Domane Wachau- label.Importer: Vin Divino, Chicago, IL; tel. (773) 334-6700.
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