2012 Emmerich Knoll Grüner Veltliner Ried Lobiner Loibenberg Smaragd

The Knoll 2012 Gruner Veltliner Smaragd Loibenberg delivers an alliance of sweet pea with rich, cardamom and nutmeg-tinged peachy fruit that is characteristic of this bottling in ripe vintages. A hint of stone serves as a fascinating counterpoint in a polished, sustained, very slightly warm finish. Plan to follow this through 2025 and anticipate some further complexity emerging from today’s already impressive performance. 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