WTN: Wachau, Villányi, Asti

2006 Domäne Freie Weingärtner Wachau Riesling Smaragd Terrassen - Austria, Niederösterreich, Wachau (4/6/2008)
13,90€; 13% abv. The nose is wonderfully mineral, peachy, very ripe fruit, a bit tropical. Refreshing palate despite all the ripe fruit and full body, lovely minerality, long and refreshing aftertaste. Quite amazing value at 14€.
2005 Jozsef Bock Cabernet Franc Villányi - Hungary, Villányi (4/5/2008)
Dark toned fruit, quite roasted even / hot year characteristics, but gladly no new oak tones. It has nice green tea notes, tobacco and cassis but it is a bit jammy. Ripe and plump, juicy tannins. Enjoyable even though it is rather sweeter and bigger than I hope Cab F to be.
2006 Prunotto Barbera d'Asti Fiulot - Italy, Piedmont, Asti, Barbera d'Asti (4/5/2008)
A rather soft wine for Barbera, I was hoping for a more tangy experience, but it does have attractive, ripe fruit, and fair structure. I won't turn down a glass, but I won't go looking for it.[/list]
Posted from CellarTracker

Note that with vintage 2006 Freie Weingärtner Wachau (who renamed themselves "Domäne Wachau" recently) are back to top form. Especially with their vineyard designated federspiels and smaragds they are easily among the top ten of the region. Also try to look out for their "Pfarre Weissenkirchen" wines (not mentioning FWW/Domäne Wachau on the label) for exceptional QPR, but then I don't know on which markets they are available.

[David M. Bueker]

Note that with vintage 2006 Freie Weingärtner Wachau (who renamed themselves "Domäne Wachau" recently) are back to top form.

That's good to hear, as I was disappointed with some 2004s I had last year.

Note that the change in management in 2005 (new manager Roman Horvath, new winemaker Heinz Frischengruber) resulted already in better 2005s, in top 2006s and in top 2007s (as far as I could taste fom the leighter-weight wines). They were appointed by the supervisory board where the new president, Hans-Georg Schwarz, silently acts in the background and enabled the shift. So things are definitely better today — and here to stay ...

Michael, thanks for that info. Unfortunately this is the only Domäne Wachau wine available to us.

I love Domäne Wachau (my son was conceived over a bottle! -don't worry he's an exceptionally bright kid! At least compared to me! ) I have a handful of '05 Achleiten Riesling Smaragd wines that and was burgled of a '77 GV last summer (I'm still not over that.) Thank God for them, they have emerged as the shining light among co-ops.

Thanks Otto too for the note on the Villány Cabernet Franc. There are now too many good wines coming out of Hungary to be ignored. While Villany has been the tradtional leader in red wines, there are other regions nipping at its toes. Look out for Konyari in Balatonlelle.