Some quick notes from a tasting with Christine Saahs of Nikolaihof in early 2001. Generally for the wines they were all extremely mineral wines, cleanly made with great acidity and all were too young. Christine Saahs also told a lot about the methods of biodynamically wine-growing. As I earlier has heard Nicolas Joly talk about this I have to say that I do believe that biodynamics is a key to growing healthier grapes. So to the notes.
Grüner Veltliner im Weingebirge federspiel 2000
Straw colour. Cleanly made wine with typical GV-nose of pepper, flowers and minerals. Medium bodied, slim and with a great acidic structure and length. Drinks well now, can age.
Riesling vom Stein smaragd 2000
Straw coloured. Very mineral wine with a grassy and flowery touch. Full-bodied in the mouth. Good concentration. Mineral. Good acidic structure. Dry with a lot of alcohol. Good length. Promising wine.
Grüner Veltliner im Weingebirge smaragd 1998
Yellow colour. Mineral nose with hints of pepper and cut grass. Powerful in the mouth. More mineral than the federspiel. Great acidic structure for this grape. Young fruitiness. Good length. Needs more time.
Riesling Steiner Hund kabinett 1998
The Steiner Hund-vineyard is technically a part of Kremstal and is therefore not allowed to use the Wachau-classification. Yellow colour. Perfumed nose. Very mineral, flowery and hints of roses (like in a nebbiolo). Full-bodied in the mouth. Great concentration of fruit, very mineral and again that element of roses. Lightly lemony finish. Great acidic structure and length. Needs a lot more time. Tremendous wine. Perhaps the best dry riesling I have tasted.
Riesling im Weingebirge smaragd 1990
Yellow colour. Some development in the nose. Hints of stoney minerality and lightly petrol. Good body in the mouth. Dry and mineral wine with some complexity. Still young and in the need of more time. Long taste. Great wine, but not as good as the Steiner Hund.
Grüner Veltliner im Weingebirge honivogel 1986
Honivogel is an earlier used name for smaragd. Yellow colour. Spicy and buttery nose with hints of minerals and honey. Powerful style. Very spicy wine which has devloped some butter and honeyness. Concentrated and off-dry wine with great acidity and a long taste. Still young and will probably develop more, but drinking well now.
Chardonnay auslese botrytis edelsüss 1999
Straw yellow colour. Very closed nose. Some hints of honey and some minerals. Powerful and half-sweet in the mouth. Much drier than I would think. Good acidic structure balances well. Long taste. Very mineral and refreshing for a sweet wine. Much too young. Christine Saahs told us that all grapes were attacked by botrytis but I have to admit I had too look hard to find any hints of botrytis at this stage.