1999 Riesling Smaragd Kellerberg

Willi Klinger, one-half of the team that has led the Freie Weingartner to the qualitative forefront of Austrian viticulture, has departed to direct marketing for Gaja, leaving Fritz Miesbauer, the young winemaking half, in complete charge. Readers who have tasted recent wines from this co-op will not be surprised to learn that the long, gradual ripening season of '99, in which Smaragd wines were picked in mid‑November, provided ideal grist for their increasingly sophisticated winemaking mill. I tasted most of this collection on two different occasions, in part for fear I had overrated them at the first showing. How many other of the world dry white wines offer the quality/price rapport that prevails at the Freie Weingartner?