Nikolaihof

Organic, bio-dynamic winery whose wines express the earth, the whole earth and nothing but the earth.  Nikolaihof’s wines are often incredibly thick, dense and uncompromisingly stony in character. Do you know the Clos de Goisses Champagne from Philipponat? Not the most charming Champagne on the market, but surely among the most PROFOUND, and capable of enthralling development with long aging. Same here; JUST GIVE THESE WINES TIME. They’ll do everything for you that great wine can do, if you are patient. Early on you’ll easily see their sheer intensity, but specific details can be lost in a monolith of concentration, an opacity that can be perplexing if you don’t know what’s ahead. Thus detailed tasting notes are difficult if you feel the need to delineate skeins of flavors with sequences of associations. Here you just stand on the prow and feel the wind and look at the swollen waves of vinosity and hope you aren’t swept overboard. And hope you are. . . .

•Vineyard area: 20 hectares
•Annual production: 100,000 bottles
•Top sites: Im Weingebirge, Vom Stein, Steine Hund
•Soil types: Primary rock topped with humus or gravel, and eroded primary rock
•Grape varieties: 55% Riesling, 35% Grüner Veltliner, 10% Weissburgunder, Malvasier, Neuburger, and Chardonnay