From Weingut Alzinger in Unterloiben, in Austria's Wachau Valley, where the Alzinger family has been working steep terraced vineyards along the Danube since the 1930s. Leo Alzinger Sr. began bottling under his own label in 1983, and his son Leo Jr. now runs the estate alongside his daughter Katharina. They farm holdings of around 11 hectares across renowned rieden including Loibenberg and Steinertal, planted to roughly 55% Grüner Veltliner and the rest to Riesling.
Steinertal is a small, sheltered terraced site dominated by gneiss and mica schist, prized for the restrained intensity and nuance of its wines. This Riesling Smaragd is a cool, taut expression: white peach, citrus, alpine herbs and a striking saline, stony grip that runs through a long, refined finish with serious cellaring potential.
Grapes are hand-harvested late, often weeks after their neighbours, to achieve full physiological ripeness without elevated sugars. Whole-cluster crushed with a short maceration, then settled cool before slow spontaneous fermentation in stainless steel and large old acacia and oak casks. The wines are aged on the fine lees, vinified within the strict Vinea Wachau codex.
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