Prager, Klaus Riesling Smaragd, Wachau

No formal note, but this was a beautiful example of aged Austrian Riesling!

2007 vintage

Very floral, yellow apples, candy flavors, green apples, good and fresh acidity and medium+ length.

2016 vintage

[Pop and pour. Brought by Salil.] Gorgeous nose of tart apples and spice. Clean, crisp, with good body. Long and delicious.

2007 vintage

Last of my bottles (opened on Christmas, because it needed a visit from Santa Klaus), and a terrific showing. Fully mature, showing plenty of rich apple and citrus fruit on a full frame tinged with developed savoury notes. The back end turns more mineral, and the whole package is delicious. Can't imagine this getting much better from this point.

2007 vintage

Golden appearance. Nose of honey, bruised red apple, apricot, flowers. High acid balances the residual sugar. Very long finish with slightly oily texture, Outstanding.

2007 vintage

Wines at Paul's Xmas lunch : Was a casual crowd so wanted to bring something interesting. Thought this showed even better than my previous bottle, with the power and sweetness dialled up a notch for a more complete wine. Waxy, nutty texture but with superb acidity and concentration. The sheer weight of this reminded me of the Unendlich but thought this was a much more balanced wine.

2007 vintage

Was a little worried when I poured this, as it was golden in colour with barely any fruit. Thankfully pulled together with air, superb concentration and richness of fruit that gave an illusion of some sweetness. Steely acidity and minerality with crushed stones, but with an impressive power behind the tropical fruit. One of my favourite Austrian producers whose wines are always top of its class.

2007 vintage

Golden yellow in glass. Medium plus intensity on the nose. Petrol, minerality, flint and ginger. Medium plus acidity and a complex long finish. Lovely stuff and a good representation of Austrian Riesling.

2016 vintage

The nose has quite a bit of depth with notes of lemon, herbs, honey, petrol, and white mushrooms. Good acidity on the palate with more lemon notes, orange, hay, honey, but completely dry. Nice finish. This wine is fully mature now and had aged quite beautifully, but I wouldn't hold this much longer.

2000 vintage

Mature color. The nose shows fragrant aromas of citrus oil, flowers, petrol, honey, apricot and minerals. This is medium bodied on the palate with excellent concentration and real class. The fairly long finish features fresh acidity and a mineral element. Beautiful!

2016 vintage

Interesting. Off dry. Quality wine. Much better at lower temps to hide the alcohol. Very golden.

2016 vintage

Excellent wine, but not fully mature. Can probably wait to come together for another 4 to 5 years.

2016 vintage

Medium yellow. A touch of exotic fruit and citrus on the nose. Deep, glycerine feel without seeming oily. Rich impression of being off dry, fantastic fruit at age 14 bolstered by outstanding soil and acidity. Topnotch in every way and should still hold well.

2007 vintage

so after 2002 Charlemagne champers we started with is little Austrian Riesling that was yum. It belied its 14 years of age drinking younger to me, but had just come into a perfect drinking window. Lovely developed sweet coating across the gentle dry acidic finish. Good mouthfeel with a long finish. Not sure if it has residual sugar but i suspect it does. drinking beautifully and ready but suspect will hold for many years. Good stuff

2007 vintage

My last bottle, again lovely, showing some mature notes. The acidity and overall balance are excellent, there is lots of depth and complexity. Slowly drink up. 92-94

2007 vintage

Opened an hour before pouring. Full yellow. Stone fruit, light petrol, and a hint of papaya. Medium weight, in fact comes across as rather elegant for this level. Fantastic clarity of fruit, glycerine feel with a touch of residual sugar, and great acidity that is perfectly folded in. Not the stoniest of Rieslings, but a good amount of soil on the finish. This has been superb on every occasion, and tonight was no different. No signs of slowing down either.

2007 vintage

Weight, concentration but also mineral, vibrant and fresh. Very long. Drink or keep. 92-94

2007 vintage

Golden yellow, flavors of peaches and minerals with a 45 second finish. Delicious.

2007 vintage

Not quite on the level of the jawdropping '07 Achleiten from the other night, but that's also an unreasonably high bar. This was impressive, also in a great zone with the fruit still quite youthful but showing plenty of savoury and smoky complexity. The fruit isn't as intense and tropical as I remember it being soon after release; it's a little more restrained and allows the mineral and earthy elements to stand out more.

2007 vintage

Casual evening at Maison Dakota. Poured into carafe and drank over 2.5 hours. Drank in Gabriel Standart. Appearance is clear, medium intensity, gold colour. Legs. Nose is clean, medium+ intensity, with aromas of complex crushed weathered stony minerality, slate, wet saline rocks, honey cream, ripe citrus lemon, bits of beeswax. Developed. On the palate, dry, vibrant high acidity, medium+ alcohol (13.5%), full body. Medium+ flavour intensity, with flavours of ripe stone fruits, ripe citrus lemon, salty wet stones licking, slate, …

2007 vintage

Day 2. This is better when cold as it's definitely a warmer and fuller version of this wine (always has been.) Tons of orchard fruit (peach, apple, pear), some apricot, lots of spices, massive saline and mineralty and brothiness. Similar on the palate - spicy and peach and apple and peach pit, really salty and juicy. When warm this loses some focus and gets more bitter. The finish is saline, minerals and bitter pit. This showed better than I expected …

2000 vintage

At first this wine was very convincing, a nicely Riesling in its first stage of maturity. But it faded a bit and especially against the very exciting, complex Ridge Geyserville Zinfandel 1972 we drank next to it (rated 97+). Still, praise where praise is deserved. This is a nice wine, which will certainly develop further complexity with more age. TN: Quince, beeswax, slight petrol, sweet pineapple, some apple, some smoke and slate. At first sharp, focused with a nice cut. …

2007 vintage

Another great bottle. Crushed stones, ripe yellow stone fruit, herbs on the nose. Concentrated and generous, but with lovely acidity and energy on the palate. Mineral, persistent finish. Excellent. 92-94

2007 vintage

Straight-up delicious, served blind but so obviously Wachau to me. Profoundly mineral, just rocks-in-the-mouth kind of minerality. Looks developed but not super-mature. Toni Bodenstein shared this with me and I guessed it was early 00's. And I based that guess on the slightly candied apricot / dried lavender and walnuts character. Intoxicating. I've spent a bit of time in this site over the last month looking at the dirt. Toni told me today that he considers it one of the …

2007 vintage

Ripe yellow stone fruit, herbs, petrol, hints of honey on the nose. Good weight on the palate, at first a little fat and oily, but more balanced and structured with some air. Certainly dense and concentrated, but also layered, mineral, fresh with a super long, almost salty finish. Excellent - drink or keep. 92-94

2007 vintage

Full yellow. Explosive aromas of citrus, stone fruit, hyacinth, and wintergreen. Full bodied, incredible glycerine giving the impression of sweetness. Great cut that bores right into the palate. Ripe fruit and spice buffered by strong acidity and stoniness. A fantastic Riesling that is at its apogee.

2007 vintage

Corked

2007 vintage

No formal notes - over dinner. Fairly evolved in terms of colour and on the nose. Rather ripe fruit, herbs, saffron. Good acidity on the palate, well balanced, vibrant, very good length. 91-93?

2007 vintage

Consistent with previous note.

2007 vintage

Slightly evolved on the nose - lots of ripe yellow stone fruit, hints of exotic fruit, herbs, crushed stones, flowers, honey. On the palate intense with good weight, lots of acidity, very mineral, almost saline. Vibrant finish, very persistent. Drinking well, no rush. 92-94

2007 vintage

Prager Dinner with Robert Bodenstein (Chicago, IL) : Like the Achleiten, stewy and likely heat-damaged.

2000 vintage

Deep burnished yellow. Fully expressed mature Riesling aromas of petrol, black tea, herbs, and stone fruit. Powerful and penetrating without heaviness. A mix of peach and tart citrus with some dusty soil and excellent acidity. Wonderful complexity and completeness. Exciting quality, should easily stay at this level for another 5 years. Every bit as strong and fresh the next night with even more minerality-terrific wine!

2007 vintage

This has developed a bit of nuance since our last tasting. A bit less opulent- more white peach than over ripe apricot. Very balanced with some zingy acidity on the finish. Evolving nicely and should continue to do do for quite some time.

2007 vintage

Wowzer. Sixteen years young. So youthful and vibrant. Practically spritzy. Terrific lemony zest, creamy and orchard fruit. The acidity is fantastic. The depth and concentration is well balanced. This is an outstanding effort. This should age effortless for another 30 years.

2000 vintage

I rather liked this wine. Opens up with a nice petrol nose, telltale streak of Wachau acidity, white peppery, flinty finish. But after a few hours the acidity disappears and the warmth of the vintage appears. Very well balanced compact yet complex. But not getting better from here and should enjoy my last bottle sooner rather than alte.r

2000 vintage

This is in a good spot. No fruit, just minerality and some oily/petrol notes at this point. Very big and dense in the mouth but well-balanced by acidity. A touch of heat on palate and finish. Enjoyed this over 2 nights though it was fading a bit on night 2.

2000 vintage

My bottle. Deep gold-yellow. Mature nose with peach, apricot, spicy, minerals, white florals - honeysuckle. Big rich and mature on the palate - apricots, saline. Finish is rich but has some zing - minerals, apricot, saline. This is good, but 01 is less rich and more classic. Nose - 5/6, Palate - 5/6, Finish - 4.5/6, Je ne Sais Quoi - 1/2 - 15.5/20.

2000 vintage

Dee Vine Wines Riesling Dinner with Stuart Pigott (State Bird Provisions, San Francisco) : Medium yellow with significant florality. Downright delicate for Smaragd, so much so that the majority of tasters, including myself, mistook it for German. Lower in acidity than the 2001. We were amazed to see that this was the same wine from the same producer, just one vintage removed-the two were completely different. Not at the level of the 2001.

2000 vintage

Corked

2000 vintage

3rd time I have had this wine but not since 2005. This was my last bottle. Medium yellow color. Notes of minerals and pears. Steely character with less acidity than previous bottles. No petrol notes and drinking well but lacked the raciness and depth of previous bottles. Drink now if you have any. 88 points.

2000 vintage

refined and beautifully balanced, with pretty orchard fruit and a firm mineral floor, floral and delicate, just lovely. improves over 3 hours in the decanter.

2000 vintage

Ripe, dry, herbal, full of green hints. Good acidity to carry it. Glossy, full bodied and classic Smaragd weight. Reminiscent of but a tad denser than a Trimbach Riesling. Excellent if not thrilling.

2000 vintage

Similar to my last note. Enjoyable. B+

2000 vintage

B+

2000 vintage

Light, crisp and really nice to drink right now. It was outclassed by an FX Pichler 2000 loibnerburg, but it was a very nice wine on its own. B+/A-

2000 vintage

New world cult wines (Erik's apparment) : Lightly yellow color. Perfumed aromas are finely interleaved with slate and flint. Some grapefruit on the palate and a rubber noter like bicycle hose on the midpalate. After openning up in the glass for a while the fruit gains a bit more weight, coming nicely together.

2000 vintage

Superb riesling. Excellent viscosity and mouth feel. Quite tart and acidic, but very full, with layers of minerals, lime citrus fruit, a hint of sweetness at the start before the acidity kicks in. Lovely with John Dory (Saint Pierre). Drinking perfectly now and over the next few years.

2000 vintage

Drank w/ tuna tartare at Figs in Philly. Really shining, with wonderful minerality and deep etched citrus fruit. Steely Dry. Cut like a diamond and just gorgeous.

2000 vintage

Blue Oval brought this wine to Haggis' house on Saturday for an offline. Some petrol notes were showing up in the wine this time around. 90-91 points.

2000 vintage

Light, notes of apple and a hint of something sweet-smelling but couldn't pinpoint it. Pears and light fruit.

2000 vintage

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Prager, Klaus Riesling Smaragd, Wachau

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