Fresh pear, fig, and lime inform the relatively lean but generously juicy Knoll 2010 Riesling Smaragd Kellerberg, which finishes with site-typical, peppery pungency and welcome levity; like other Knoll Smaragd Rieslings of its vintage weighing in at only a bit over 13% alcohol. Both Knoll Senior and I note an energy and a “precision” of flavor that one didn’t notice in the past, and which is doubtless attributable to the advancing age of the vines. “I’m a devotee of this sleeker sort of Smaragd,” remarks Knoll. “Warmth and wind at the end of October gave Smaragd the extra push, especially for Gruner Veltliner,” notes Emmerich Knoll Senior, and his estate did not begin picking that category until the first week in November. “Up until then, it pretty much counted as settled that we wouldn’t bottle a 2010 Vinothek in either Riesling or Gruner Veltliner, which in fact we did. But I can’t recall when the Smaragd ever had acid levels identical to the Federspiel as happened this year. Not that I’m unhappy about this,” he adds with a laugh. “There have been and will be quite a few vintages in which we would be happy for some of 2010’s acidity.” A portion of the Riesling Federspiel crop was de-acidified as must. Total production was only around half of what Knoll considers normal. None of the Smaragd – collectively, almost unbelievably, representing the heart of one of the finest Knoll collections in memory – was not due to have been bottled until late this summer.Importer: Circo Vino Besenville, IL; tel. (417) 732 4200

Lime and sweet corn in the Knoll 2007 Riesling Smaragd Kellerberg put one in mind of Deidesheim. (Please excuse the German comparisons, but in a Wachau Riesling vintage with the brightness of 2007 they come naturally.) This wine harbors a notable sense of sheer extract and while it presently lacks the signature peppery pungency of Kellerberg, it offers a sense of salt and crushed stone in the finish. I wonder whether it, too, needs a year or two in bottle to blossom (or to be tasted on another day) but I suspect it will be best drunk within 4-5 years .Like many of their neighbors, the Knolls harvested Federspiel already in late September, but then largely sat out the rains for three weeks before commencing to pick Smaragd. Botrytis-affected clusters were segregated and pressed immediately, and even the entirely healthy portion of the crop was given less skin contact than usual. A few botrytized rows or parcels were left to hang for nobly sweet wine (in a vintage where few Wachauer followed suit) although not from Riesling. I continue to long for the return of a vintage wherein the Knoll Gruner Veltliner outshines their Riesling, as has not happened for some years now. As has once again become the norm here, none of the Smaragd (save for the Muskateller) were bottled before late summer of last year, and my most recent notes are from cask (or occasionally tank).Importer: Vin Divino, Chicago, IL; tel. (773) 334-6700