Nikolaihof | Wachau | Hefeabzug, Grüner Veltliner trocken | 2013 | 750ml | bio

Description

Product description for Nikolaihof Hefeabzug, Grüner Veltliner trocken 2013 (bio)

Archive Release 2024.

Origin

A significant portion of the fruit comes from the Steiner Goldberg, a smaller portion from Mautern. The Steiner Goldberg vineyard was first mentioned in 1302. It lies at an altitude of 300 to 380 meters above sea level, overlooking Krems. The slopes face southeast, south, and east. The subsoil consists of crystalline rock such as paragneiss, mica schist, and quartzite. This creates a loamy-sandy, dry, and permeable, silty soil with a high stone content. The soil is lime-free and acidic, except in the south of the vineyard, where loess occurs. In Mautern, silty soils with loess and clay predominate.

Colour

Strong yellow tones, close to light copper-gold.

Nose

With astonishing, distinctive lime and lemon aromas of candied fruit. The terroir, or more precisely, the tertiary notes, set the tone here. But also undergrowth, moss, hay, dried grain, roasted hazelnuts, pumpkin seeds.

Palate

At first glance, the taste is dominated by a touch of sweetness (old-school residual sweetness). This makes the wine very delicate on the palate, complete and creamy, round, with a pleasant flow that empties the glass faster than you’d expect.

Copyright Vinaturel 2025

Keywords: Nikolaihof Hefeabzug, Grüner Veltliner trocken 2013 bio Wachau Austria

Wine Advocate

Score: 92

The 2013 Grüner Veltliner Hefeabzug opens with a clear, fresh and stony bouquet that represents the crystalline Steiner Goldberg (a southeastern-facing site at 300 to 380 meters above sea level) in a lighter yet wonderfully pure style. However, a smaller part of the grapes comes from the loess and loam soils in Mautern. On the palate, this is an intensely fruity and savory Veltliner with almost stewed apricot fruit and ripe, mineral and grippy acidity that gives a straight and remarkably long finish with fine tannins. The wine is very fresh and vivacious yet all of its energy comes from the roots and less from the fruit. This is a remarkable Veltliner with substance, intensity and excellent length. 12% stated alcohol. Screw cap. Archive Release 2024. Tasted in January 2025.
Stephan Reinhardt

Vinous

Score: 91

This Federspiel-weight sur lie bottling delivers a delightful combination of lemony juiciness and lift with silk, lees-enriched texture and nutty, piquant, crunchy depth of nut oils, salad greens, cucumber and lentil sprouts. Already on the nose there is a suggestion of crushed stone suffusion hard to separate from that of lees, but whose counterpart on the palate contributes to the wine’s textural appeal. Alkaline notes add to the sense of grip in a superbly sustained, invigorating finish. This is actually very slightly higher in alcohol (around 12.5%) than the corresponding wine labeled Federspiel–probably, as Christine Saahs suggests, because slightly less rigorous selectivity is exercised here, and thus a bit of botrytis-tinged fruit may have found its way into the Hefeabzug. I don’t expect that to limit its usual ability to age wonderfully any more than it has inhibited youthful juiciness. (Tasted alongside it, the 2000 was still juicy, crunchy, refreshing and intriguing.)
— David Schildknecht
Drinking window: 2015 – 2025
Review date: Nov 2015

Producer website: https://www.nikolaihof.at/en/home/