1998 Riesling Smaragd Kellerberg

"We harvested the rieslings a bit earlier than the gruner veltliners," explains Knoll, "and we weren't afraid to leave some residual sugar behind, rather than have wines with too-high alcohol." Almost alone among the vintners I visited, Knoll was holding out for bottling some of his obviously ageworthy Smaragds in late summer or early Fall. "Of course there should be fruit, but that should be integrated into a complexity which, I believe, requires a somewhat longer ripening in cask. Traditionally, we never bottled the best wines before September, just before the new harvest when we would need the barrels again. And this longer time in cask didn't in the least express itself negatively-on the contrary. Nowadays, people especially in Austria are lovers of primary fruit and freshness in wine. As a result, we see the bottling dates creeping forward and purportedly great wines are offered already in January. But great wines need time." Speaking of great wines over time, Knoll this year treated me to a striking range of older gruner veltliner, including a fresh and multifaceted 1977 Schutt, a wine possessing not more than 12.5% alcohol.