Nikolaihof Wachau Riesling Vinothek 2000 (750ML)

99 JS / 97 VM / 17.5 JR

Welcome to the riesling deep end! Try to climb out if you can, but I don't want to! Although this is almost 20 years old there's a kaleidoscope of dried fruit aromas which also make this one of the world's most amazing dry white wines. An austere, but enormously intense, dry finish that words can't easily describe. James Suckling

Here is another Nikolaihof offering that I was given a rare opportunity to taste prior to bottling. But perhaps the Saahs family will rethink their generosity with sneak previews, given that I now feel compelled to publish a substantially updated tasting note to reflect the significantly more impressive showing delivered by this wine a year after its late summer 2016 bottling. As before, the nose is head-turningly complex, offering black tea and Latakia tobacco smokiness, coriander-seed pungency, high-toned pistachio extract, intimations of red currant, lime and white peach and a remarkable array of mineral and animal intimations: sea breeze, sweat, wet stone, oyster liquor and mussel stock. What I earlier described as a “silken and expansive yet buoyant palate” has taken on an almost custardy richness. Yet the accompanying juicy brightness of fruit – now including a tang of fresh ripe tomato – has by no means diminished in animation, intensity or sheer refreshment. The vibrant finish tugs at one’s salivary glands with suggestions of urchin roe and shellfish stock while delivering a kaleidoscope of herbal, mineral and fruity diversity.—Drink 2018-2026. David Schildknecht, Vinous Media

RS 5 g/l, TA 6.2 g/l. Seems very restrained on the nose. Just a hint of spice, but with air it shows layers of honey and citrus and a floral quality. Still so amazingly fresh and youthful, as if it were in a time warp. Piercing freshness. --Julia Harding MW, Jancis Robinson