Weingut Prager-Bodenstein Wachau - Österreichische Weine, Steinfeder, Federspiel, Smaragd und Auslese

PRESSEBERICHE

AUSTRIA 2005s: By The Skin of Their Grapes

For the growers around Krems - that is to say in all of Austria's important Riesling and Grüner Veltliner growing regions - 2005 is the vintage that almost wasn't. A small crop "enjoyed" - from a plant's perspective - a moderately cool and well-watered summer, culminating in extensive August and September rains. In this year, vintners who have drip irrigation to support their farming of the best stony, terraced sites never had to activate their drip lines. "There was stress not for the vines," explained Toni Bodenstein of Weingut Prager, "but for the vintners. We all thought in the middle of September that we would be lucky to harvest Federspiel this year." As Ludwig Neumayer in the Traisental south of Krems put it, "You had to have a pretty stable personality to stand up to this vintage." "And then," continued Bodenstein "came a golden October and November." "An October more beautiful than any in recent memory, with brilliant sunshine from morning 'til evening for the entire harvest" was how Leo Alzinger Jr. of the Wachau described it. "We didn't even have the ground fog that we usually get." The growers had been granted more than a stay of execution. They got a six week window from the beginning of October until the first hard frosts. That said, not all growers were in a position - or were willing - to risk late harvesting, at least not for Riesling. The effects of rot were especially felt in that varietal. The desire to mitigate botrytis and stem rot in Riesling resulted in many growers picking it at the same time as or even ahead of Grüner Veltliner, a rare occurrence in the recollection of every grower with whom I discussed this phenomenon, and one that could scarcely be conducive to optimizing Riesling's notoriously late acquisition of phenolic depth. Nevertheless, while it seems evident to me that 2005 favors Grüner Veltliner over Riesling, some outstanding results were also achieved with that varietal and a few vintners, notably Lucas Pichler, had the results to support a contention that it was "hard to make the call" between success with these two grapes. The Kamptal and Kremstal suffered less rain than the Wachau and had correspondingly a slight advantage with Riesling, at least going into October.

Two thousand five is a small crop, and not just on account of the culling of botrytized bunches. "Nature always tries to compensate," Alzinger Sr. reminded me, "so the set was modest after the large crop of 2004," itself a reaction to the heat and drought of 2003. This small crop set was a godsend in retrospect. And when full ripeness came in October and November, it was by no means always accompanied by vestiges of botrytis. "We also had completely healthy bunches," reports Bodenstein, "whose berries simply began to dehydrate. I produced for the first time in my career a wine with over forty grams of sugar-free dry extract."

Many a more problematic Riesling or Grüner Veltliner in this vintage can be compared with the wines of 1998: amazingly dense, but rough in phenolics and at times strident in their reflection of botrytis. But the better wines (blessedly often) lean toward the sharply-focused, high acid, minerally intense character of 2002. For the sake of balance both in alcohol and acidity, many growers chose - as in 2002 - to leave behind a bit more residual sugar. It might seem paradoxical that the best wines of this vintage possess finesse, clarity and dynamic interplay of flavors, while others express their extract - a legacy of well-watered days of summer and dehydrated fruit in fall - in a massive, static manner. But veteran vintner Emmerich Knoll suggested a connection. "Often when the weather is not so good as the harvest is about to begin and afterwards turns good, you get more elegance and finesse in the wines." Their narrow escape from disaster forms the personality of the best 2005s. In the precariousness of the pelicule, you could say, lies precisely the possibility for complexity and finesse. The rigors to which the grape skins were subjected built character.

In Burgenland, 2005 brought enormous challenges as well as opportunities. Challenging was the effect of rain and rot on early-ripening or sensitive reds such as Zweigelt and Pinot Noir, whereas Blaufränkisch was more easily able to achieve phenolic ripeness. The opportunity was present for nobly sweet wines of the sort for which the area around the Neusiedlersee is internationally best-known. But it is too early to assess those results. In this year's report, I have concentrated on 2004, a vintage for reds such as one seldom encounters in Burgenland, particularly in recent times: phenolic maturity went ahead of sugar accretion, making possible wines of complexity and ripeness at lower than usual levels of alcohol. I have also utilized this year's report to catch readers up on some of Burgenland's successes from previous vintages, since I visit most of the growers there only every other or every third year.

All of the 2005 Austrian wines - with the exception of a few collections sent to me as samples - were tasted in the course of my June visits to nearly fifty estates. For consistency, I have designated all vineyards without preceding them with the name of their village or the word "Ried" (vineyard) although one or both of these may appear on the label. Those seeking additional information on many of the estates canvassed below, as well as on my approach to rating the wines, are encouraged to consult my coverage in Issue 160.

NOTE: The wines of Alois Kracher will be covered separately in a future issue, since his collection of 2004 Trockenbeerenauslesen had not yet been bottled when I visited, and for wines of this significance, an assessment from barrel seemed to both him and me insufficient. -David Schildknecht

2005 Prager Gruner Veltliner Stockkultur Rating: 95 points Producer: Prager From: Austria Variety: Gruner Veltliner (a dry white table wine) Estimated Cost: Source: Wine Advocate #166 (Aug 2006)

The 2005 Gruner Veltliner Achleiten Stockkultur, named for the traditional propagation of vines low to the ground and on a single stake, reflects the precocious ripeness, susceptibility to botrytis, minuscule yields, and enormous genetic variety characteristic of a single ancient parcel Bodenstein acquired several years ago. (In fact, the more botritized fruit from his younger vines in the Achleiten were directed to this bottling as well.) Twenty-six grams of residual sugar - while not especially obvious in its effect due to its sheer density and Mosel Riesling-like acidity - prevent this opulent, rich, honeyed wine from being labeled as "Smaragd." For all of its fullness, creaminess, and sheer ripeness, it displays remarkable clarity and lift, as well as subtle herbal, floral, and mineral notes and a remarkable degree of interplay. In short, it dramatically illustrates its great vineyard origins as well as the unique heritage of its ancient vines. The finish is transcendentally long and evocative. How can something this nearly over the top evince more Achleiten typicity than its largely botrytis-free Smaragd counterpart? Perhaps its record-breaking forty-two grams of sugar-free dry extract are trying to tell us something. They certainly raise an eyebrow. The wine itself will raise the hair on the back of your head. My guess is it will also make old bones and if you are trying to latch on to some of it, all I can say is "break a leg!" Like his Gruner Veltliner - and reflecting the effects of the viticultural wild card that is botrytis, Bodenstein's results with Riesling also varied widely in their degree of success, with the best being superb.