Schmid’s 2009 Gruner Veltliner Alte Reben represents a voluminous, glycerin-rich, caressing and distinctive amalgam of roasted red beet and caramelized turnip with bitter-edged herbal and coffee-mocha accents. Its softness is confirmed by analytically low acidity but its baritonal finish and lightly, positively oxidative aura, don’t by any means preclude a sense of refreshment. This strikes me as an archetypal wine of both its vintage and its grower, and I would expect it to perform well for 6-8 years if not longer. I last met with Schmid in order to taste his 2007s (on which I reported in issue 181), and my visit this June confirms him as a source of some seriously delicious and well-priced wines. He opened for me a few of his 2009s as well as his most recent collection. Schmid claims to have had only one-third of a normal crop in 2010 from his 40 acres (which are spread over some 50 parcels). “Some of my old vines didn’t even have any crop on them this year,” he notes.A Monika Caha Selection, New York, NY; tel. (212) 877-3558 with various importers, including Frederick Wildman & Sons, New York, NY; tel. (212) 355-0700