Another variation on loess and rocks (the eroded gneiss base of the Gasiberg), Gobelsburg’s 2007 Gruner Veltliner Renner displays a savory, saline, peppery, and crystalline mineral depth that positively shimmers through the wine’s concentration of caramelized parsnip, coffee, peach, and tobacco. Musky, spicy notes waft throughout like the perfume of some exotic orchid. This is practically severe in its firmness and palpable sense of extract when compared to the Steinsetz, but as it evolves in bottle, its deep richness and caramel notes will become more prominent, while its illusive suggestions of flowers and minerals remain. I would plan on following this for a decade, if not longer. Michael Moosbrugger did not begin his main white wine harvest – even for lighter-weight Gruner Veltliner – until mid-October. Unlike most Krems area growers he also picked nobly sweet wine, based on a late bloom of botrytis. Moosbrugger seems to have achieved some (considering the weather) surprisingly successful reds in 2007, having painstakingly cut off half of each cluster to inhibit the development of rot, then harvested prior to any of his whites. (I’ll report on those reds after I have re-tasted them from bottle. For notes on two outstanding 2006 vintage reds which have since lived up to their promise in bottle, consult my report in issue 177.)Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300