New to the Prager collection is a 2007 Gruner Feltliner Smaragd Liebenberg, from 50 year old vines in a mica-schist site, with a genetic diversity and around 25% pole-trained vines – a sure sign of generations of genuine vine selection that sparked Bodenstein’s imagination. Pungent lemon and grapefruit zest, persimmon, and a salinity that begins already in the nose, offer contrast to this wine’s honeyed, nut oil, and ripe peach richness. Polished and refined, with an oily slick and pungent spice that point toward botrytis, this finishes with impressive clarity a positively sizzling counterpoint of pepper and shimmering, crystalline minerality (metaphorically, at least!), with citrus and ripe peach. For all of its richness and pungency, it displays graceful elegance and levity, tinged with faint warmth. This should be worth following for at least 5-7 years. This was one of our most expensive and laborious harvests ever, says Toni Bodenstein, adding that if the mere two bottlings he does of Federspiel had not this year represented a full 50% of his production, the attention and selectivity necessary for the quality of all the other wines would not have been possible. Bodenstein notes that he didn’t risk long skin contact this year, as he did not want to risk losing tartaric acidity to precipitation.Importer: Vin Divino, Chicago, IL; tel. (773) 334-6700