1997 Nikolaihof Riesling Vinothek Fass Severin

WINEMAKER: Nikolaus Saahs
REGION: Wachau, AT
VARIETAL: Riesling
VITICULTURE: Certified Biodynamic

"The 1997 Vinothek Riesling Fass Severin is actually an emerald and spent well over 20 years until the summer of 2022 in large, old wooden barrels. For many years, winegrower Niki Saahs has been sneaking around this barrel, which was already there full when he slowly took over the business from his parents. Tried again and again and pondered about the right release date. Now in 2022 the time had finally come, the time was right, Fass Severin was bottled.

Drinkable history and equipped with this immortality of the barrel maturity of the Nikolaihof, which makes this winery a kind of great old Rioja of the Wachau white wine - unique and iconic. And if you then smell the first glass, you can be sure that it will be able to mature in the bottle for another 20 years. Because that smells so young and vital, that no blind tasting would ever guess the age of this wine. The bouquet is almost shy and puristic. I have a certain spiciness here in the form of herbs and fresh tobacco. Then oolong tea, some ripe apricots and mirabelle plums. On the palate it has a gripping tannin structure that gives it substance and bite. Very spicy, ethereal and deep in all the aromatics. So this is what a Gran Reserva from the Wachau tastes like. Big!" - Heiner Lobenberg

Nikolaihof is the oldest wine estate in Austria dating back two thousand years. Its history is well-documented due to the historical and religious significance of the site. Originally established as a Roman fort in 63 BC, the current buildings stand on the original foundations and the barrel cellar itself is constructed in the Roman crypt. At one stage it was an early Christian Agapit basilica with documentation of a synod held there in 985 AD. In 1075 AD it was recorded as the administrative seat of the Passau monastery of St Nikola and the present chapel was built by Augustinian Canons of the monastery in the 15th century. Winemaking on the site can be traced back to the Celts, with the first documented reference to wine from 470 AD. Today this historic estate is owned and run by the Saahs family, who are natural custodians of its unique heritage.

Nikolaus Saahs (Jnr) runs the Nikolaihof estate on strict bio-dynamic principles and it is possibly Europe’s first ever bio-dynamic winery with the practices being used since 1971 (before Nicolas Joly even!). They were certified in the early 1990s, when Demeter first introduced vineyard and winery certification. They also practice what they preach, as even the more spiritual elements of bio-dynamics seem to fit perfectly with the history of the estate. As well as vineyards they run their estate as a small bio-farm; growing and making all manner of produce to serve alongside local fare in their weinstub, as well as serving produce from other local likeminded producers.