Winemaker Notes
Prager’s stylistic signature is that of aromatic complexity coupled with power and tension. High-density planting and long hang times ensure ripe fruit flavors and concentration, yet allowing leaves to shade the fruit lend vibrant aromatics of grasses, herbs, and wildflowers. Minerality is a constant feature of any Prager wine.
Riesling’s high acidity makes it one of the most versatile wines at the table. Riesling can be used to cut the fattiness of foods such as pork or sausages and can tame some saltiness. Conversely, it can highlight foods such as fish or vegetables in the same way a squeeze of lemon or a vinaigrette might.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
From the Weissenkirchen Ried Hochseiberer, the 2018 Riesling Smaragd Wachstum Bodenstein offers an intense and concentrated bouquet of firm and fresh but later also concentrated stone fruits, which indicates a first hint of maturity but first of all great concentration. Crystalline, refined and elegant on the first palate, this is a rich but powerful, athletic and persistently salty Riesling with great vitality and tension on the pure and vivacious finish. This is an excellent Riesling with stunning finesse and vitality for the 2018 vintage.
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Wine Spectator
A subtle wine, more about texture, depth and harmony than in your face flavors. The floral, peach and mineral notes match seamlessly with the suave texture and racy character of this Riesling. It builds in intensity to a long, citrus-infused finish. Fine and graceful. Try now with food, or wait.
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Wine & Spirits
From a high-elevation parcel, this is bright and cool, with a bit of spritz that gives it a jaunty feel. The flavors skew herbal and citric, lime notes ringing out with clarity and drive. Elegant now, this should grow more complex with time in the cellar.
Riesling possesses a remarkable ability to reflect the character of wherever it is grown while still maintaining its identity. A regal variety of incredible purity and precision, this versatile grape can be just as enjoyable dry or sweet, young or old, still or sparkling and can age longer than nearly any other white variety. Somm Secret—Given how difficult it is to discern the level of sweetness in a Riesling from the label, here are some clues to find the dry ones. First, look for the world “trocken.” (“Halbtrocken” or “feinherb” mean off-dry.) Also a higher abv usually indicates a drier Riesling.
As Austria’s most prestigious wine growing region, the landscape of the Wachau is—not surprisingly—one of its most dramatic. Millions of years ago, the Danube River chiseled its way through the earth, creating steep terraces of decomposed volcanic and metamorphic rock. Harsh Ice Age winds brought deposits of ancient glacial dust and loess to the terrace’s eastern faces. Today these steep surfaces of nutrient-poor and fast draining soil are home to some of Austria’s very best sites for both Grüner Veltliner and Riesling.
Wachau is small, comprising a mere three percent of Austria’s vine surface and, considering relatively low yields, represents a miniscule proportion of total wine production. Diurnal temperature shifts in Wachau facilitate great balance of sugar and phenolic ripeness in its grapes. At night cold air from the Alps and forests in the northwest displace warm afternoon air, which gets sucked upstream along the Danube.
Its sites are actually so varied and distinct that more emphasis is going into vineyard-designated offerings even despite grape variety. Grüner Veltliner and Riesling are most prominent, but the region produces Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc (Weissburgunder), Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc and Zweigelt among other local variants.