This has a pleasant airy lightness and juiciness, with bright flavors of apple, pear and peach joined by honeyed citrus notes on the fresh finish. Drink now through 2015.??–KM??Region: Austria / Nieder?sterreich / Kamptal Select to Add

Harvested the 16th of December, Gobelsburg’s 2007 Gruner Veltliner Eiswein exhibits the high-toned, pungent, positively prickly aromatics that are often associated with this genre. A confectionary cast of lemon and mint candy with vanilla icing is allied to flavors of kiwi preserves for a polished, luscious, but somewhat overridingly sweet impression. Here is another case where sheer purity and intensity are formidable. Probably higher acidity is what is missing to better-balance the sweetness and engender more levity and finishing refreshment. That said, it may well prove to be early days here for a wine that will eventually gain in the bottle. I simply cannot say. Michael Moosbrugger did not begin his main white wine harvest – even for lighter-weight Gruner Veltliner – until mid-October. Unlike most Krems area growers he also picked nobly sweet wine, based on a late bloom of botrytis. Moosbrugger seems to have achieved some (considering the weather) surprisingly successful reds in 2007, having painstakingly cut off half of each cluster to inhibit the development of rot, then harvested prior to any of his whites. (I’ll report on those reds after I have re-tasted them from bottle. For notes on two outstanding 2006 vintage reds which have since lived up to their promise in bottle, consult my report in issue 177.)Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300

Though Gruner doesn’t have a reputation in Austria for ice wine as do other varieties, based on the strength of this wine, maybe it should. It has a great balance between toffee sweetness and high acidity, the intensity softened and broadened by spice and toffee.——R.V.(10/1/2008)—— 90

A 2005 Gruner Veltliner Eiswein from the Steinsetz, harvested in late November, smells of honey, fresh orange, sweet pea, and a hint of radish. On the palate, it displays the utmost purity of apricot nectar, fresh orange, honey, and raspberry, all accented by notes of pea tendril and brown spice. This balances an incredible amount of sugar and combines enormous richness and intensity of flavor with lift, buoyancy and elegance, the way that truly great Eiswein can – and I cannot recall having had better from Austria. Also recommended: 2005 Riesling Urgestein ($23.00; 86), 2004 Riesling Tradition ($41.00; 86+?), 2004 St. Laurent Klassik (not available; 86+?).Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300