The 2006 Gruner Veltliner Federspiel Loibenberg too displays a snappy, refreshing character with clarity and juiciness – genuinely light but not under-ripe. (Yet, by analysis it is another typical 2006 Federspiel: barely legal!) Subtle floral and herbal notes in the nose lead to a sleek, slender palate impression. In the manner of the best Wachau wines, the real action here is reserved for the finish, one as genuinely interesting for its subtle shades of herb and mineral as it is simply delicious in its refreshing citricity. And I am pleased to be able to mention that by today’s standards of Wachau excellence and weak dollars, this offers good value. I am delighted to report that with 2006, director Roman Horvath and oenologist Heinz Frischengruber have brought the Freie Weingartner coop back to the front ranks of Austrian viticulture. Any who have followed – sometimes with frustration and sorrow – the past half dozen years in the history of this Wachau institution can only express relief, admiration, and elation. Success here is all the more important to American consumers today, inasmuch as wine from most of the top Wachau addresses is becoming unaffordable for many of us to drink on a regular basis, not to mention for restaurants to offer by the glass. If a few of the lower-level, higher-volume bottlings this year represented a slight dip in quality, that was to be expected given the nature of the vintage and the huge number of growers who supply fruit to this venture. For similar reasons, the Freie Weingartner were bound to deal with a certain amount of botrytis this year, but in the dry wines they seem to have retained only that which would confer positive spice and richness, bottling some improbably successful and refined sweet wines as an outlet for the rest.Importer: Vin Divino, Chicago, IL; tel. (773) 334-6700.
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