2012 Riesling Ried Schutt Smaragd

Lean for a Wachau wine of its vintage, the Knoll 2012 Riesling Smaragd Schutt exhibits stimulating brightness and admirable clarity with sage, marjoram, black pepper and stone glimpsed through a matrix of apple and lime, leading to a lingering and refreshing, intriguing though very slightly warm finish. I imagine this bottling being worth following through 2020. Circumstances conspired for the Knolls to harvest a good-sized 2012 crop, all of which was brought in by November 8 (some parcels of Gruner Veltliner being almost as late as the last Riesling). “The Gruner Veltliner kept accumulating sugar,” reports Emmerich Knoll Sr., echoing comments from other growers, “whereas Riesling remained at almost the same level from the mid to late October, and we took a pause from picking it before coming back at the end.” A new cellar facility has made it easier to perpetuate and even to expand the applicable range of this estate’s tradition of bottling their best wines only at summer’s end. Importer: Circo Vino, Tucson, AZ; tel. (417) 732-4200

Slightly woody (not oaky) nose, attractively sour, dry and very primary on the palate. Earthy, extremely mineral, power and intensity without immediate fruit flavour. Impressive rather than alluring at the moment. (JH)