The Gobelsburg 2007 Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese – like its Gruner Veltliner counterpart, tasted from acacia cask and slated for September, 2009 bottling – displays similar sweaty, salty notes in the nose. So embryonic and implosively concentrated it is tough to access, this Riesling’s Scheurebe-like sage, candied grapefruit zest, and black currant reminded me of the characteristics of certain healthy dry wines of the vintage. Thick and very sweet, yet at the same time penetrating, brightly citric, and saline in finish, it will certainly be at least a ten year keeper, but I do not pretend to have a clear idea of just what it will become.Michael Moosbrugger did not begin his main white wine harvest – even for lighter-weight Gruner Veltliner – until mid-October. Unlike most Krems area growers he also picked nobly sweet wine, based on a late bloom of botrytis. Moosbrugger seems to have achieved some (considering the weather) surprisingly successful reds in 2007, having painstakingly cut off half of each cluster to inhibit the development of rot, then harvested prior to any of his whites. (I’ll report on those reds after I have re-tasted them from bottle. For notes on two outstanding 2006 vintage reds which have since lived up to their promise in bottle, consult my report in issue 177.)Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300