The 2006 Blaufrankisch Schutzner Stein – blended with only around 10% Merlot this year, and about to reach our shores – smells of concentrated ripe cherry, black raspberry, and plum, with toasted almond, rose hip and lily-like floral accents. Silken in texture, with superb refinement of tannin, it finishes with sappy invigoration that reflects relatively cool site origins, and the element of new wood used is not at all superficially evident. Expect this to be worth following for at least 8-10 years. The quality of 2006 for Burgenland’s premier red variety fully merited the late bottling practiced by Prielers, with the result that I have still not tasted from bottle three that were still in cask until last September.Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300

The 2005 Blaufrankisch Schutzner Stein – blended once again with 15% Merlot – is silky, refined, and subtly oily in texture, loaded with ripe blackberry and mulberry, fruit wreathed in herbs and flowers and tinged with iodine. Pungent and invigorating, this clings with a deliciously complex amalgam of toasted nuts, peat, herbs and black fruit. Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300

The fruit from the Goldberg all went to improve the 2004 Blaufrankisch Schutzner Stein – blended once again with 15% Merlot. Fresh ripe black fruits and subtle flowers inform the nose. Deep mulberry and blackberry fruit, nut oils, and loamy earthiness load the palate, which is dense and full-bodied yet preserves cut and freshness. There is a lot of tannin present, but of a refined sort. A salty, briny, pithy back end reflects the wine’s enormous dry extract. The overall combination of intensity and ripe flavors with a “cool,” raw fruit cast is most intriguing, reflecting, as Silvia Prieler says, that rare combination for Burgenland of phenolics that matured ahead of the sugar curve. This will be fascinating to follow over a decade or more, and its cool-climate personality may seem even more exceptional with hindsight than it already does now. I won’t sing the praises of the 2003 Goldberg once again, as it was still not in bottle when I visited. By the way, I tasted some Pinot Noir experiments this year in which Siliva Prieler used a regimen of open top fermentors, pigeage, and less new oak. For my taste, these represented promising developments.Also recommended: 2004 Chardonnay (not available; 85), 2004 Blaufrankisch Johannishohe ($27.00; 85-87)Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300

The 2003 Schutzner Stein will be in the marketplace this fall, and I am not able to visit each of the important Burgenland estates every year, so I prefer to comment now, although from cask. This blend of Blaufranksich with 15% Merlot smells of walnut oil, carob and black fruits. (I would have sworn the minority partner was Cabernet Franc.) The palate impression is full-bodied and glycerin-rich and with an abundant mass of fine tannins, yet it manages to positively refresh on account of its insistent salinity and fresh berry notes. The finish is restrained for the vintage, but deep black fruit, humus, truffle, beet root and other subterranean notes point in the direction of profundity. Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300