Freie Weingaertner Wachau Riesling Smaragd Loibner Loibenberg

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The Weingartner's 2007 Riesling Smaragd Lobenberg brims with ripe peach and melon. Subtly creamy in texture, it nevertheless displays refreshing lime and grapefruit and impressive clarity in a finish dusted with site-typical white pepper, peach pit, and crushed stone. Here is a site captured with a minimum of botrytis interference, and a Riesling that should be worth following for 5-7 years. Roman Horvath and Heinz Frischengruber are on a roll now, so one wants to root for their retaining the marvelous value that has distinguished Freie Weingartner wines in their best periods, because top-flight Wachau wines at prices like theirs are scarcely available anywhere else. Yields on Gruner Veltliner in 2007 were a bit high for optimal, Frischengruber opines, but then, the yields in Riesling obviously came at the expense of botrytis. And it goes without saying that selectivity is a challenge in coop situations, even though one which the team here has previously proven themselves capable of meeting. Nearly 40% of production was picked as Steinfeder, a quality grade all but missing last year, and whose volume in this vintage permitted enhanced attention to the fruit that remained for Federspiel and Smaragd. All of the wines reviewed below are bottled under the -Domane Wachau- label.Importer: Vin Divino, Chicago, IL; tel. (773) 334-6700.

Spiced purple plum and honeysuckle on the nose of the 2006 Riesling Smaragd Loibenberg lead to a luscious, opulent palate of brown spice-tinged and honey-glazed ripe plum. There is plenty of refreshment to be derived here and no heat from the more than 14% alcohol. A distinctive, faintly peppery mineral pungency informs the succulent, long finish of this outstanding representative of a great site. I am delighted to report that with 2006, director Roman Horvath and oenologist Heinz Frischengruber have brought the Freie Weingartner coop back to the front ranks of Austrian viticulture. Any who have followed – sometimes with frustration and sorrow – the past half dozen years in the history of this Wachau institution can only express relief, admiration, and elation. Success here is all the more important to American consumers today, inasmuch as wine from most of the top Wachau addresses is becoming unaffordable for many of us to drink on a regular basis, not to mention for restaurants to offer by the glass. If a few of the lower-level, higher-volume bottlings this year represented a slight dip in quality, that was to be expected given the nature of the vintage and the huge number of growers who supply fruit to this venture. For similar reasons, the Freie Weingartner were bound to deal with a certain amount of botrytis this year, but in the dry wines they seem to have retained only that which would confer positive spice and richness, bottling some improbably successful and refined sweet wines as an outlet for the rest.Importer: Vin Divino, Chicago, IL; tel. (773) 334-6700.

The 2000 Riesling Smaragd Loibner Loibenberg is a hugely spicy wine, revealing a nose of sweetened chamomile tea. This medium-bodied and silky-textured wine offers loads of white flowers, lemons, and minerals in its broad, refreshing character. This excellent Riesling should be consumed over the next 10 years. Importer: Vin Divino, Chicago, IL; tel. (773) 334-6700

The 1999 Riesling Smaragd Loibner Loibenberg is a chalk and mineral-scented wine. On the palate it reveals lively citrus zest, mineral, and lemon flavors. This well-focused and balanced wine should be consumed over the next 6 years. Importer: Vin Divino, Chicago, IL; tel. (773) 334-6700

The 1993 Riesling Smaragd Loibner Loibenberg has an awesome nose composed of tobacco, minerals, cedar, and spices. This medium-bodied, broad, silky-textured wine coats the palate with quinine, candied limes, poached pears, minerals, and juniper berries. It is a complex, concentrated offering with loads of depth and a long finish. Anticipated maturity: Now-2010.Importer: Vin Divino, Chicago, IL; tel. (773) 334-6700