Nikolaihof ‘Von Stein zu Mautern’ Riesling Smaragd 2002 (Wachau), $50, 12.5% abv

I’m a sucker for locally-driven and organic cuisine, so should you ever find yourself with a free night in Washington DC, I recommend heading over to Nora in the Dupont Circle area. Nora is America’s first Certified Organic Restaurant meaning 95% of the ingredients are organic. But don’t go thinking this is a ‘health food’ restaurant. Instead, take comfort knowing that the quart of heavy cream used in your risotto is organic heavy cream.

In addition to a lovely seasonal menu, Nora presents an interesting wine list. The list is sprinkled with top organic and biodynamic producers including Chave, Meo Camuzet, Tablas Creek, and even Nicholas Joly’s Coulee de Serrant (my favorite wine in the world, ahem, in case you’re looking for a birthday gift idea).

However, I skipped the 2004 Coulee de Serrant on the list last night (I prefer them closer to ten years old) in favor of a 1990 Nikolaihof ‘Vinothek’. The damn thing was corked and they couldn’t sell me another. (By the way, I have a theory about the high rate of corked wines from Austria in the early 90s but will save it for another post.) I ended up enjoying a 2002 Nikolaihof ‘Von Stein zu Mautern’ Riesling.

Side note, the Wachau area in Austria has its own quality designations for wines based on grape ripeness (three special levels in the Wachau). Smaragd (smah-RAHG) is the highest level of ripeness, with an alcohol level of more than 12%.

On to the wine: I love Rieslings with age on them for the petrol notes they develop. In this case, I found intense aromas of stones and minerals jumping out of the glass where I thought petrol would have developed. (These were my immediate scribbling before I found out that ‘Von Stein’ means ‘from stones’.) Otherwise, I got loads of lemon zest, ripe yellow apples and pears. The palette is well-balanced between its medium body, acid, and finish. This is a dry Riesling, though not painfully so. I find Nikolaihof wines to be less austere than other producers in Austria.

One last note, see that ‘Demeter’ logo on the back label? Nikolaihof is a biodynamic producer. Biodymanic goes a step beyond organic farming by incorporating lunar rhythms into decisions in the vineyard and winery. Seriously. More for another post…