Weingut Knoll, Loibner Gruner Veltliner BA, Wachau 2021 - 50cl

A Beerenauslese only happens when the weather cooperates, which is why Knoll doesn't make one every year. When they do, it comes from Grüner Veltliner grapes left on the vine until noble rot concentrates them into something dense and golden. This is Austria's great white grape in its most opulent register — and from one of the Wachau's most revered addresses.

Weingut Knoll works out of the Loibnerhof in Unterloiben, on the steep terraces above the Danube. The family is quietly legendary here, known for wines of real precision and long life. The fruit for this bottling comes from top sites around Loiben, hand-picked berry by berry — slow, painstaking work that only the sweetest, most shrivelled grapes survive.

Pour it and the nose is immediately lavish: dried apricot, candied lemon, a dusting of cinnamon and spice cake, with rhubarb and ginger underneath. The palate is rich and lush, packed with concentrated orchard fruit and a caramel depth — but it never turns heavy, because Knoll's signature acidity cuts right through the sweetness and keeps the whole thing lifted. The finish is long, elegant and clean. At 50cl, it's the right size for a wine you sip rather than gulp.

This is a bottle for the end of a long dinner, poured into small glasses while the conversation slows down.

How to Serve

Serve well chilled, around 8–10°C, in a small white wine glass. A little cooler than a dry white, so the sweetness stays fresh rather than syrupy. Once opened it keeps happily in the fridge for a couple of weeks.

Where to Drink It

The Wolseley, with a slice of tart to finish. Noble Rot, whose list adores exactly this kind of Austrian rarity. Scott's in Mayfair, as a quiet nightcap.

Food Pairings

Lovely with a fruit tart — apricot or peach especially. It also handles blue cheese beautifully, or a wedge of aged Comté. Or simply pour it on its own as the pudding.