Austria

Founded in 1987 by Dr. Wolfgang Unger, and now operated by his daughter Petra, and Konrad Hackl, the 11 hectare Dr. Unger estate is located in the prestigious Kremstal and Wachau regions of Austria. Kremstal vineyards produce some of the finest Grüner Veltliners, exhibiting exotic fruits, soft texture, and distinctive pepper notes.

The winery is counted among the pioneers of eco friendly viticulture in Austria. As an organic operation, they cultivate the vines by hand and use only natural compost, straw coverage and natural herbicides.

A pale lemon colour, this dry wine has a pleasant mineral character, grapefruit aromas together with a distinguishing white peppery edge.

This wine has intense aromas of yellow apples, pears, mandarins, litchis, with hints of white pepper. The exotic fruit aromas continue on the palate, combined with the very typical white peppery notes, dense body, complex with a delicate acidity and a fruite finish.

This wine has a intense nose of ripe yellow apples and jucy pears, apricot, mandarines, with white peppar and herbal notes in the end. The intense aromas continue on the pallete with very typical spicyness of the Veltlinergrape Gelb, many layers, powerful and still elegant body, long, with big potential for the future.

This medium bodied Riesling produced from vines that average 15 years of age, contribute to the powerful fruit intensity of stonefruit and gosseberries.

This is a wine that expresses beautiful minerality, with hints of gun flint and lemon on the finish, which is supported with a crisp acidity.

Riesling Steinriegl Smaragd shows a very clean, golden colour, with a hint of green coming through. It is fantastically shiny, and on the nose beautiful aromas of citrus fruits, smoke and exotic fruits are expressed. This is a brilliantly structured wine, both powerful and very impressive, though also gracefully elegant. All in all, a fantastic example of Smaragd, and a real pleasure to drink.

From the dramatic precipitous slopes of the Wachau, perched imperiously over the serpentine Danube, Weingut Prager makes some of the most intellectually satisfying Riesling in the world. Taut, with flinty, green apple notes, and hints of white pepper and capiscum, the wine will, over the next two-three years open out, revealing a richness and length that make it a perfect match for turbot, shell fish, or even sushi.

Replanted in 1990 with twenty different ancient clones drawn from Toni Bodenstein’s personal collection, this 1 hectare site lies at 400 metres overlooking the Danube; it’s a different site from that of the Veltlinber however. The net result of such terroir is a wine of bristling acidity, exquisitely balancing the 23 grams of residual sugar to brilliant effect: such purity, such weave, such joy. Drinking from 2015.

A minerally Austrian wine with potent aromas of tropical fruits and white peppar, Gruner Vertliner's signature notes.

One of the less well-known Prager vineyards & wines, yet for me one of their most singular & thrilling, perhaps because Klaus is located way up the rock face at approx 550 metres above sea level, on one of the Wachau’s most exposed sites & Prager’s highest vineyard. I admire this wine for its uncompromising stance & brilliant tension; influenced no doubt by the rocky, nutrient poor soils. One for the long term, till 2019 & beyond.