2007 Prager Riesling Weissenkirchen Klaus Smaragd

The Prager 2007 Riesling Smaragd Klaus exhibits a saline, citric, bittersweet peach and peach pit melange that positively sticks to the gums. This brash, high-strung wine hasn’t got the elegance of Achleiten, but time in bottle will bring some refinement. The finish here is exceptionally transparent, even if it’s hard to express just what mineral stuff you are glimpsing. However else you describe it, this is classic Klaus. It reminds Bodenstein of his 1993, which when set alongside, even now tastes almost a bit too sassy and bright for its own good, and for my money (which it wasn’t, I realize) not in the same league. Expect the 2007 to reward at least a decade’s cellaring. This was one of our most expensive and laborious harvests ever, says Toni Bodenstein, adding that if the mere two bottlings he does of Federspiel had not this year represented a full 50% of his production, the attention and selectivity necessary for the quality of all the other wines would not have been possible. Bodenstein notes that he didn’t risk long skin contact this year, as he did not want to risk losing tartaric acidity to precipitation. Importer: Vin Divino, Chicago, IL; tel. (773) 334-6700