95-97 Falstaff Magazine

"A sub-plot at the very top of Achleiten, stokkultur is reached by teetering, work stone steps. At 70-80 years old, these are the oldest Gruner Veltliner vines in the Wachau, set up on an ancient training system. Shining gold; complex and juicy with pineapple, mango, touches of honey and candied orange zest. Lively acidity and deep minerality. A candidate for long aging."

97 Stephan Reinhardt - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

"From a vineyard planted in 1938, therefore with thick-skinned berries, the 2015 Gruner Veltliner Smaragd Achleiten Stockkultur displays a very deep, pure and stony bouquet with herbal, almost ether flavors on gneiss rocks. Very intense and concentrated on the palate, with a lovely juicy fruit and lots of salt and stones, this is a very elegant, salty, highly complex and expressive Veltliner of great elegance, finesse and complexity. it is perfectly balanced and very long.

"I have still a lot of 2015s to taste but Toni Bodenstein's collection of Riesling and Gruner Veltliner Smaragds set the benchmark. There are world class wines amongst them, true classics of which we will still sing in 20 or 30 years. Weingut Prager has probably bottled the finest Achleiten Veltliners I have ever tasted. Check out the Smaragd and the Smaragd Stockkultur. Have there been greater Veltliners been bottled in the past 16 years? On the same level is the Veltliner Smaragd Zwerithaler Kammer from a .34 hectare plot from before World War I. It has been launched for the first time at Weingut Prager. Also don't miss the 2015 GV Smaragd Wachstum Bodenstein. Amongst the Rieslings Ried Klaus rules, accompanied from the Achleiten. In fact there are so many wines to buy from Prager this year that you need a big wallet and a great heart for Gruner Veltliner and Austrian Riesling. Whereas the 2014s did not speak to me when I tasted them in winter the 2015s were singing when I tasted them in April – and they are still doing." June 2016