1997 Riesling Smaragd Kellerberg

Given the high quality of results in the difficult '96 vintage, it no longer surprised me in a vintage like '97 to taste here wines as good as those of nearly any of the best individual estate bottlers in Austria. What other growers' cooperative in the world can make such a claim? The '97s some spontaneously vinified, some employing cultured yeasts all fermented to classically dry Wachau proportions. Willi Klinger and Fritz Miesbauer ambitious program of improvements continues unabated. On the day I visited, a massive amount of equipment was being installed for better handling (or rather not handling) of the fruit as it arrives at the press house. Qualitative sorting of small picking bins followed by direct dumping into the press will be the future norm.