2006 Weingut Knoll Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Ried Kreutles Loibner

The 2006 Gruner Veltliner Smaragd Kreutles smells of lemon, Bosque pear, and pungent herbs. Glossy in texture and generous in fruit, it offers a classic rasher of pungent pepper, segueing into mineral notes in the finish. Having finished picking the last day of October makes this by one measure among the earliest harvests on record here, “certainly,” says Knoll, “since the early nineties, anyway.” (In 2003, they began earlier but finished later.) While this year’s Federspiel bottlings were by Knoll’s admission “right on the border” of going over into legal Smaragd territory and required quick action during harvest, they nevertheless retain the requisite sense of lightness and refreshment. But if the harvest was relatively hurried, Knoll’s approach in the cellar was anything but, and none of his 2006 Smaragd had been bottled yet when I tasted them last summer. Importer: Vin Divino, Chicago, IL; tel. (773) 334-6700