The 2006 Riesling Der Wein Vom Stein retains 9.3 grams of residual sugar which prompted Neumayer in strict legal compliance to print -halbtrocken- in tiny letters on the label, but whose sweetening effect is in fact entirely canceled out by what for this estate is quite high acidity (nearly eight grams). Musk melon and fresh lime in the nose lead to a palate in which these are tinged with salt and chalk. This dynamic wine's imposing length reveals botrytis-free transparency of fruit and imposing minerality. It should gain complexity with 3-4 years of bottle age. Neumayer reports that a warm wind blew through the Traisental in the last days of September, after which he began picking on October 3; just over a month later, he was finished. I have been an enthusiastic proponent of the Sauvignon experiments of Neumayer and a number of Danubian growers, but it is impossible to overlook the fact that - in U.S. dollars, at least - excellent Sancerre can still be had for not much more than half the price of the Giess, and that with the Stein, we are in Dagueneau territory. Austrian Sauvignon outside of Styria may still count as an exotic, but if the wine is excellent, its price tends to be set with the high tariff that applies to single-vineyard Styrian Sauvignon in mind.Importer: Vin Divino, Chicago, IL; tel. (773) 334-6700