Riesling Vinothek 1997 Nikolaihof

Classification
Type	Blanc
Marque	Nikolaihof
Millésime	1997
Pays	L'Autriche
Région	Wachau
Raisin	Riesling
Volume
État	Parfait
Étiquette	Parfait
Consommable	-2030
Stock	0

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Robert Parker (97)

Aged for 17 years in a domestic 3,500-liter cask before it was bottled in August 2014, the 1997 Riesling Vinothek is the best part of the regular 1997 Riesling Smaragd Im Weingebirge, which was bottled and marketed in late 1998. The aged Vinothek version offers a fascinatingly clear, bright, deep and multi-layered nose with iodine and ripe as well as intense white-fleshed fruit aromas. Full-bodied, full of finesse and elegant, this dry, transparent and mineral Riesling develops a great intensity, complexity and power on the palate, but never leaves its silky road of purity, finesse and transparency. There is a lot of Spiel and tension here, but the most exciting characteristic trait is the intense and very mineral, almost endless finish. How youthful this wine is! And its further aging potential is still terrific. The wine reminds me of certain sherries, white Riojas and Jura wines, although it is not less oxidative. But it spent a long time in cask and has the freshness, complexity and thrilling taste of those. It's a great, unique and stimulating wine that was bottled with 12.8% of alcohol, 6 grams of residual sugar and 6.5 grams of acidity.

Christine and Nikolaus Saahs did not want to send their wines into a tasting with peer wines. "Due to their tender structures and extremely low alcohol levels, wines from the Nikolaihof do not benefit from tastings where they stand in competition with more powerful wines. They need time and temperature to unfold their talents in the glass," they explained me and went on: "The best qualities, our Smaragd wines, are bottled only after years of aging in casks, so at the moment we have just Smaragd to show, the 2013 Nikolaihof Im Weingebirge Grüner Veltliner."
I accepted their point, although there is no Smaragd that I tasted at Domäne Wachau that would not have benefited from "more time and temperature." However, my schedule was too narrow to visit the Nikolaihof, so the Saahs family sent me their current releases, including Federspiele to my home office where I tasted the wines with the same patience I gave all the others. The current rage of Nikolaihof wines is excellent and includes two highlights, the 1997 Riesling Vinothek and the 2005 Trockenbeerenauslese. Also the Federspiel category is outstanding, even though all the wines would benefit from further bottle age, as the still young 2006 Riesling Federspiel Vom Stein demonstrates.

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