2002 Riesling Steinriesler

My latest notes from the Nikolaihof cover the wines presented to me there in June 2015, including the estate’s initial releases from vintage 2014. On the whole, relates Nicholas “Nikki” Saahs, any given 2014 parcel was brought in only about a week later than its average 21st-century picking date, and predictably only a couple of other Krems area estates known to either him or me finished harvesting nearly so early in October. I have often had occasion to remark how impressively the Saahs family’s case for their biodynamic regimen is buttressed by repeated evidence of their achieving ravishingly complex and satisfyingly ripe flavors much sooner than other growers and at significantly lower levels of potential alcohol. When it comes to 2014, I’ll wait to taste those wines that are released next year and to re-taste after a year in bottle those reviewed below before declaring myself convinced that they could not have been improved by a bit more hang time—always assuming that botrytis could have been held in check. But Saahs claims that as things transpired, “Muskateller was the only grape variety from which I asked my pickers to cut any [imperfect] bunches to the ground.” I was offered last June what at this estate counts as a very rare glimpse of wine from cask, namely a 2014 Steiner Hund Riesling that had scarcely finished fermenting, and which left me optimistically anticipating a rendition of extra buoyancy and brightness accompanied by the usual understated complexity.