2013 Gruner Veltliner Kaferberg

Piquantly pip-tinged apple and sugar snap pea aromas are lightly wreathed in greenhouse-like scents as well as some perfume contributed by the once-used 2,500-liter acacia cask in which it resided. While there is polish, albeit with underlying firmness on the palate, on first acquaintance from cask I noted a slightly drying finishing note that I thought might reflect the effects of June hail that hit this site, perhaps also accentuated by the wood. Bründlmayer was confident that the wine’s extended stay on its lees would rectify matters, and a year on in bottle it would be gross understatement to merely say that he was correct. Blond tobacco and piquant but lightly caramelized parsnip offer a new, mouthwatering layer, and smoky, ashen notes in the finish now appear as welcome counterpoint to baked apple fruit for a performance that formidably combines cut and richness.