The week began with a bang, quite literally, the 'bang' of another vehicle colliding with mine as I waited for the red traffic light to turn green.And it continued with a bang, again quite literally, the 'bang' of a bottle of wine colliding with the tiled kitchen floor a split second after I'd yanked the fridge door open. It was a 375 ml bottle of Kracher Zwischen den Seen - 'between the lakes' - Scheurebe Beerenauslese from the 1994 vintage and it had made its way out of the cellar to celebrate Sue and John Weaver's return from the chilly fjords of Chile (Oh hat, pun not intended) but never made it to the table.

The 1994 would have been made by Alois Kracher Jr, a top Austrian producer who died in 2007 aged just 48 following a battle with cancer. He went to work with his father, sweet wine specialist Alois Kracher Sr, in 1986 and his own reputation grew rapidly. In just two decades, he was named "Winemaker of the Year" by Wine Magazine in London - not once, not twice but six times. His son, Gerhard Kracher, has taken over the winery.

The Kracher vineyards are located at the 'Seewinkel', a 20 km wide band along the shore of lake Neusiedl in the Burgenland region. The climate promotes the development of botrytis - there's cool autumn evenings and a heavy fog, which hangs around the vineyards until midday. Notable styles from Kracher include Trockenbeerenauslesen, Beerenauslesen, Auslesen, and, if the vintage allows it, ice wines. Spätlesen and a handful of dry wines are also produced.

Scheurebe is a German cross from 1915 of riesling and silvaner, in Austria it is often known as Sämling 88, and ripens to high sugar levels to make rich and powerful sweet wines.

Beerenauslese is an Austrian and German wine category in their 'Prädikatswein' classification. The grapes for Beerenauslese wines are those that have been individually picked, and are also usually infected with noble rot. The minimum must weight requirements for Beerenauslese in Austria is 25°KMW (Klosterneuburger Mostwaage), corresponding to 127°Öchsle or 16.3°Beaumé.

More than that about the wine, sadly, I cannot say.