-- Galloni: “This was picked in the last two hours of the last day of harvest, a Friday the 13th,” reported Knoll senior, “when had begun asking ourselves, ‘Will we finally be able to finish up?’ “ Five weeks earlier, when we picked the Smaragd, we had left this one parcel hanging. But this late, a good third of the fruit was still botrytis-free.” Musk, bacon, rose water, candied ginger, lychee and honey rise from the glass, and the honeyed aspect is supported by an expansive, glycerol-rich, judiciously sweet palate impression. Rose petal perfume wafts all the way through a wonderfully persistent and vibratory finish, to which crystallized ginger and candied lime peel lend invigoration while salinity adds mouthwatering appeal such as was missing from the corresponding Smaragd. Here is the Knolls’ rare yellow variant of Traminer demonstrating a talent for animation that its more familiar cousins can’t approach, and which was no doubt conveyed in large part by the share of healthy fruit that he mentioned having been concentrated by wind desiccation. 93-94/100
