The Velich 2006 Muscat Ottonel Beerenauslese smells pungently of honey-drenched, smoke-wreathed orange and grapefruit zest and kumquat. With an imposing sense of density and moderate sweetness – both functions of its more than 13% alcohol – this finishes with persistent pungency, to which a resinous herbal note contributes. I suspect this will serve well in many situations over the next 5-7 years, but it is hard to see it acquiring the mystery, elegance, or self-contained potential for meditation that comes with the best sweet wines at this address. 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