Schloss Gobelsburg: Riesling Tradition Reserve 2012

Parker über: Riesling Tradition Reserve

-- Parker: Believe me or not, but the 2012 Riesling Tradition, which keeps its true origin as a useless secret (Niederösterreich), is the finest and most subtle Austrian Riesling I have tasted this summer. The nose is very Burgundian in its purity, elegance and subtle expression of fruit and mineral-rich terroir (which is the Kammerner Gaisberg by the way). It shows the purity, multi-facetedness, noblesse and serenity of a great wine which does not care about primary fruit aromas (like the 2013 Erste Lage Gaisberg does in a lovely way), but reveals enormously subtle flavors of flowers, herbs, crystalline stones and fruits like honeydew, nuts and turkish honey. The palate is highly elegant and perfectly balanced, the taste noble, complex and long without exposing anything else but finesse, elegance and harmony. Going back to younger, more fruit-driven wines from here would be a banal exercise. The old monks knew quite well what they did and they obviously knew what tastes good. 'The most important thing about Tradition is not its origin (thus Niederösterreich) but the philosophy of élevage,' says Michi Moosbrugger. But isn't this the same as if we would talk about how an artist plays the piano without listening to it? 95/100