2016 Emmerich Knoll Riesling Schütt Smaragd

Emmerich Knoll

Austria / Wachau / Emmerich Knoll

Viticulturist: Knoll family
Location: Wachau/ Dürnstein
Elevation/ Altitude: 240m
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

JamesSuckling

jamessuckling.com

96 points

Super-ripe and super-fresh with hints of all the citrus fruits and some stone fruits, too. The finish has a ton of dried citrus and staggering vitality that suggests this wine has decades of ageing potential.

December, 2018

David Schildknecht

Vinous Media

94 points

Ripely scented and succulent white peach and mirabelle are mingled with high-toned almond extract, smoky black tea and piquant peach kernel in a bottling that practically glows in finishing intensity while delivering an animating dynamic of fruit/mineral interaction. Smoky, stony, alkaline and mouthwateringly saline elements all play a part. This is going to have a formidable future.

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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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