2015 Emmerich Knoll Riesling Schütt Smaragd

Emmerich Knoll

Austria / Wachau / Emmerich Knoll

Viticulturist: Knoll family
Location: Wachau/ Dürnstein
Elevation/ Altitude: 240 m
Exposition: foot of the mountain
Soil type: pure primary rock, Gneiss based
Vineyard’s style: most minerality, very focused, straight and powerful wines
Methods of training: modified Moser Training System
Density of planting: 3,500 - 4,000 per hectare / 2.40 – 2.80m row spacing
Average vine age of this vineyard: 5 to 50 years, average: 25 years
Harvesting: by hand; selective harvest; rarely green harvest
VINIFICATION
No destemming, skin contact, no carbonic maceration, pneumatic press
Yeast: cultured and natural yeast
Fermentation vessel: cask and stainless steel tank from 500 to 5,000 litres depending on batch quantity
Fermentation length & temperature: 10 - 20 days, 23 - 26 degrees
ELEVAGE/ MATURATION
Lees ageing & batonnage: 6 - 8 months, no bâtonnage
Racking: twice

October, 2017

James Suckling

jamessuckling.com

97 points

Floral honey and delicate exotic fruit notes, but also a minty freshness. What stunning energy this has! The considerable power of this wine is barely perceptible. A breathtakingly vital finish with no hint of opulence. Could age for many decades if you've got the patience.

February, 2021

Huon Hooke

The Real Review

96 points.

Wonderful fragrance of honey, citrus fruits and florals, a really sublime nose! Concentrated, deep and powerful in the mouth. Magical line and precision. Sweetness is in balance. A great wine.

February, 2017

David Schildknecht

Vinous Media

92-93 points.

The most multidimensional of its vintage’s Knoll Rieslings, this combines the focus, brightness, extract-richness and animation of the corresponding Pfaffenberg Selektion with extra measures of textural silkiness and depth of fruit. Succulent white peach is complemented by juiciness of fresh lime and piquancy of hazelnut and peach kernel, along with a fascinating range of marine mineral nuances. The finish is forceful and saliva-inducing, full of intrigue, yet never abandons vintage-typical fruitiness or forgets Riesling’s obligation to refresh.

June, 2016

Stephan Reinhardt

Wine Advocate

91-92 points

The 2015 Dürnsteiner Riesling Ried Schütt Smaragd offers a super ripe and intense, herbal-flavored bouquet of ripe golden delicious apples. Full-bodied, elegant and fresh this is a powerful and pretty rich Riesling with grip and tension, but it lacks the coolish character of the Kellerberg or even the Steinertal.

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About Emmerich Knoll

"This winery has produced so many cult wines over the last decades that it would not be a problem to fill an entire book with their tasting notes." So goes the Falstaff Ultimate Wine Guide's entry on Knoll, pronounced with a K. The winery uses exclusively old oak foudres and implements a winemaking philosophy that places varietal site expression at the forefront. Emmerich Knoll senior is a thoughtful, quiet man; the opposite of Emmerich junior, cosmopolitan and modern in his approach. The Knolls have holdings in all the best sites, as exemplified by their success in the now infamous UK tasting where an aged Knoll Grüner beat a field of Grand Cru white Burgundies. The unmistakable labels bearing the image of Saint Urban, the patron saint of winegrowing, are a reminder that tradition is the watchword here. But what isn’t so obvious is that Emmerich Knoll’s wines are sheer joy to drink — now or far into the future.

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