Nikolaihof - Riesling Smaragd Wachau Vom Stein Vinotek 2000

Grape: Riesling / Region: Wachau / Vineyard: Various / Soil: Loam, Loess, Paragneiss rock / Winemaking: Aged for 16 years in 3,500 liter old oak casks / The best parts of the harvest are blended and held for an extended period in cask

Nikolaihof is the oldest wine estate in Austria, whose history goes back almost 2000 years to Roman times. A walk round the estate is like a trip back through history.

The main elements of the present-day appearance of Nikolaihof date from the fifteenth century, but everywhere one is constantly bumping into remains of the old Roman fortress. Every age has left its traces behind. Today Christine and Nikolaus Saahs receive their guests at receptions and wine tastings under the restored Gothic vaulting of the deconsecrated chapel.

Welcome to the riesling deep end! Try to climb out if you can, but I don't want to! Although this is almost 20 years old there's a kaleidoscope of dried fruit aromas which also make this one of the world's most amazing dry white wines. An austere, but enormously intense, dry finish that words can't easily describe. James Suckling

Here is another Nikolaihof offering that I was given a rare opportunity to taste prior to bottling. But perhaps the Saahs family will rethink their generosity with sneak previews, given that I now feel compelled to publish a substantially updated tasting note to reflect the significantly more impressive showing delivered by this wine a year after its late summer 2016 bottling. As before, the nose is head-turningly complex, offering black tea and Latakia tobacco smokiness, coriander-seed pungency, high-toned pistachio extract, intimations of red currant, lime and white peach and a remarkable array of mineral and animal intimations: sea breeze, sweat, wet stone, oyster liquor and mussel stock. What I earlier described as a “silken and expansive yet buoyant palate” has taken on an almost custardy richness. Yet the accompanying juicy brightness of fruit – now including a tang of fresh ripe tomato – has by no means diminished in animation, intensity or sheer refreshment. The vibrant finish tugs at one’s salivary glands with suggestions of urchin roe and shellfish stock while delivering a kaleidoscope of herbal, mineral and fruity diversity.—Drink 2018-2026. David Schildknecht, Vinous Media