Wieninger Preussen Grüner Veltliner 2012

With Wieninger's always small amount of this wine further reduced by vintage circumstances, he raised his 2012 Gruner Veltliner Preussen in tank for lack of enough to fill even an old barrique. Rich roasted lentil and turnip mingled with green bean, underlain with wet stone and laced with green herbs and iodine inform a dense, subtly creamy palate, leading to a finish of grip, layered complexity, and nearly explosive as well as incisive intensity - featuring smoke, iodine, white pepper, radish and other broadly-speaking mouthwateringly 'mineral' savor. Talk about the iron fist in the velvet glove: this is like a warm, strong hand making a fist under chain mail. 'My dad made wines like this,' remarks Wieninger. Big-boned at 14% alcohol and making no concessions to flattery, it ought to merit following through at least 2022. Score - 93. (David Schildknecht, erobertparker.com, April 2014)