Velich’s 2005 Welschriesling Trockenbeerenauslese displays the subtle sweetness and palate density that characterize his relatively high-alcohol house style. This wine has also benefitted from its long stay on the lees, enhancing its creamy texture and complexity of toasted grains and nuts. Candied citrus rind, musk, brown spice, and smoky black tea inflections lead to a concentrate of pineapple and apricot preserves that make for penetratingly persistent complexity. Expect a reward for ten or a dozen years of cellaring. Heinz Velich (whose brother and former partner is the force behind the wines of Moric, about which see elsewhere in this report) produces Austria’s most distinguished Chardonnay (from vines his father planted believing they were Pinot Blanc) as well as some of the country’s finest nobly sweet wines. His wines are marked among other things by long stays in barrel and low-sulfur, resulting in a style Velich considers but closer to tradition and (especially when it comes to nobly sweet elixirs) more interesting from a culinary standpoint than the more reductive approach favored by most of his fellow Neusiedlersee vintners.Importer: Winemonger, Los Angeles, CA; www.winemonger.com