I bought this Austrian wine on sale in 2002 for $29. It usually retails for about $40-45. I brought it to dinner with the Chicago Wine Mafia Saturday at Timpano's restaurant. WS rated this wine 91 points while WA gave it 94.
Weingut Prager is one of the top 5 estates in Austria and is located in the Wachau region. Ilse and Toni Bodenstein have run this estate for 20 years. The estate has been in their family for over 100 years. Prager concentrates on tailoring each wine to its vineyard site (terrior) and uses traditional vinification methods from its 13 hectares of vineyards. Although he is not opposed to incorporating new technology when appropriate.
Klaus is considered one of Pragers top vineyard sites. This dry wine was characterized by its firm structure and racy acidity. Aromas of lemon flowers. This minerally and slate driven offering had notes of pear and other orchard fruit. Long finish with some grapefruit notes. As usual, I thought this Austrian wine was an excellent food match based upon its full body and flavor profile. In fact, I liked this wine better than the 1998 Prager Riesling Smaragd Weissenkirchner Steinriegl even though Steinriegl might be considered a slightly better vineyard site. 92-93 points.
VM
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