2013 Riesling Kellerberg Smaragd
Market price
Buying options
Tasting notes
Succulent white peach and Persian melon are tinged more subtly than usual for this bottling with Madagascar and Szechuan peppercorns, black tea and crushed stone. There is hauntingly bittersweet floral perfume wafting through this entire performance, almost as though some Achleiten or Heiligenstein got loose in the fermenter. A high-toned suggestion of almond extract adds to the sweet impression of fruitiness (despite analytical dryness); and a mandarin orange note adds aromatic as well as brightly juicy allure in perfect harmony with a seductively creamy texture. Piquancy of peach kernel lends stimulating counterpoint and engenders a glowingly persistent finish. The combination of pit fruit, citrus and floral aromatics with complex peppery notes left in the empty glass is head-turning. This is as refined a Kellerberg Riesling as it has been my pleasure to experience. What’s more, it represents the first time I can recall using the word “buoyant” to describe one--and that for a wine picked in the last week of November!
Critic scores
Average Score
Stephan Reinhardt, Wine Advocate
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
Succulent white peach and Persian melon are tinged more subtly than usual for this bottling with Madagascar and Szechuan peppercorns, black tea and crushed stone. There is hauntingly bittersweet floral perfume wafting through this entire performance, almost as though some Achleiten or Heiligenstein got loose in the fermenter. A high-toned suggestion of almond extract adds to the sweet impression of fruitiness (despite analytical dryness); and a mandarin orange note adds aromatic as well as brightly juicy allure in perfect harmony with a seductively creamy texture. Piquancy of peach kernel lends stimulating counterpoint and engenders a glowingly persistent finish. The combination of pit fruit, citrus and floral aromatics with complex peppery notes left in the empty glass is head-turning. This is as refined a Kellerberg Riesling as it has been my pleasure to experience. What’s more, it represents the first time I can recall using the word “buoyant” to describe one--and that for a wine picked in the last week of November! (DS)
From the estate's parade vineyard, the 2013 Riesling Smaragd Dürnsteiner Kellerberg displays a very rich and intense aroma of super-ripe and concentrated Riesling berries. Rich and powerful, but also precise, impressively concentrated and piquant on the palate, this well-balanced and highly elegant Riesling with its lemon and orange aftertaste is another signature wine of both the Wachau and the 2013 vintage. It's aging potential should be terrific. A serious, tension-filled Riesling of great expression, which I highly recommend.
From the estate's parade vineyard, the 2013 Riesling Smaragd Dürnsteiner Kellerberg displays a very rich and intense aroma of super-ripe and concentrated Riesling berries. Rich and powerful, but also precise, impressively concentrated and piquant on the palate, this well-balanced and highly elegant Riesling with its lemon and orange aftertaste is another signature wine of both the Wachau and the 2013 vintage. It's aging potential should be terrific. A serious, tension-filled Riesling of great expression, which I highly recommend. (SR)