semicolon ; Riesling 2022

The semicolon ; Riesling 2022 is a dry orange wine from the Wachau, made entirely from Riesling and bottled by Nikolaihof in Mautern. At 12.0% ABV, it stays within the moderate alcohol levels Nikolaus Saahs Jr. works toward: the estate's wines favor crystalline clarity, delicate structure, and longevity over power and extract.

Nikolaihof is Austria's oldest wine estate. It stands on the foundations of Favianis, a Roman fort dating back to 63 BC; the medieval Agapitus Chapel survives in the inner courtyard, and the Im Weingebirge vineyard is considered the first vineyard in Europe to be documented in writing, recorded as early as 470 AD. The Saahs family has run the estate since 1894. The 22 hectares function as a living organism: wildflowers and herbs grow between the vines, bees hum, and green lizards sun themselves on the stone terraces.

In the Roman vaulted cellar, a 350-year-old wooden basket press made of oak beams is still in use. The musts ferment spontaneously in large Slavonian oak casks, unhurried: long maturation in large wood casks is the estate's hallmark, with some wines resting there for a decade or longer before bottling. The process demands patience and produces wines of pronounced inner structure.

In 1971, Christine Saahs brought Rudolf Steiner's biodynamic principles to the estate. Nikolaihof became Austria's first Demeter-certified wine estate, is considered the oldest Demeter estate in the world, and remains, to this day, the only certified biodynamic producer in the Wachau.