Like its Gruner Veltliner counterpart, the Domane Wachau 2007 Riesling Smaragd Kellerberg was not set to be bottled before September, and I last tasted it from barrel. (I applaud this team's setting an example by giving at least two of their top wines an added opportunity for cask evolution. Who knows, worldwide recession might encourage more to do the same, although right now there is no sign that the Wachau's top growers will cease selling out their wines on or before arrival.) Fresh apple and grapefruit lend a juicy vivacity to this seemingly largely botrytis-free Riesling, but it certainly shares with others in this collection a sense of palpable density that should be nicely complimented (and an emerging sense of creaminess nurtured) by its further stay on the lees. Finishing surprisingly treble in tone for this site but with the predicable pepper, this should be worth following from bottle for at least 4-5 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.

Fermentation and maturation for the 2006 Riesling Smaragd Kellerberg were of similarly long duration to the Gruner Veltliner from this site. And in fact, low-toned suggestions of peach, musk melon, coffee, and caramelized root vegetables here as well as a rather plump structure put one distinctly in mind of Gruner Veltliner. There is site-typical pepper in the finish, but somewhat coarsely deployed, and accompanied by a hint of heat. This may need more time in bottle to show its stuff, and one should revisit the wine later this year to assess its cellar potential. Certainly its sheer richness is imposing. 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.

A classic Riesling from the Wachau, which combines intense, aromatic fruit with full flavors of white peaches and floral aromas. This is not as dry as most Wachau wines—it has a definite sweet aftertaste—but the whole wine is so well balanced that this sweeter character never dominates. Imported by Vin Divino. ——R.V.(5/1/2005)—— 90