Alzinger Ried Steinertal Riesling Smaragd 2019

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

About Alzinger

Leo Alzinger Sr. Innovator and model entrepreneur. In the early 80’s, Leo Alzinger Sr. began producing wines which, due to his precise work ethic, were each able to tell their own stories.
In the mid 1970s Leo Alzinger Sr. inherited the winery from his family, who at that time had been selling the grapes they harvested to the Dinstlgut in Loiben. It was in 1983 that Leo Sr. decided to take on the challenge of producing and marketing wine himself. This ambitious endeavor gave Leo Sr. the opportunity to develop his own personal style of winemaking; a style that to this day has hardly changed. Precision, clarity, directness, elegance, and liveliness are just some of the characteristics that have been associated with his wines since early in his career.

An essential factor that contributed to his early success was the ideal location of his vineyards in the eastern Wachau region. Leo Alzinger Sr. has since handed the estate to his son, though he still actively works in the vineyards and maintains the Wachau region’s distinguishing stone walls.

Leo Alzinger Jr. Traveled far but returned home to his roots in the Wachau. Leo Alzinger learned many winemaking methods but continues his father’s tried and true techniques.
Before Leo Alzinger Jr. decided to continue the work his father began, he chose the path that many children of Austrian winemakers choose: studying Viticulture in Klosterneuburg. Particularly formative were his experiences abroad, where Leo Jr. continued his training in Germany’s Pfalz region at Weingut Müller-Catoir, working under the legendary winemaker Hans Günter Schwarz. Working a harvest season in New Zealand completed his apprenticeship and Leo Jr. returned to the Wachau.

Though he had learned various styles and methods of winemaking throughout his education, his experiences confirmed his decision to continue with his father’s technique- to let the terrain express itself through each different vineyard and vintage. Implementing his father’s cool, clear, and precise winemaking style which allows the landscape to speak through its grapes is how Leo Jr. produces wine today.

In the Vineyard

Handwork, cover-cropping, promoting soil fertility, and selective harvesting: our work in the vineyards aims to highlight the individual characteristics of each garden.
We consider our handwork in the vineyards to be of utmost importance because it calls for our near-daily attention from mid-January until the end of October. Each vineyard has different needs and in many cases we need to respond to each vine individually. The decision to merely monitor the vines and practice patience as they mature on their own is one of the most difficult decisions we have to make.

Necessary interventions such as gentle pruning, enhancing soil life and biodiversity, and adapting to changes in the weather help foster the health and growth of our vines. Working by hand with our grapes helps us determine the ideal time to harvest them in order to establish a balance of acidity, body and alcohol.

The characteristic dry walls of the Wachau have both an aesthetic and a historic purpose. Without them, there would be no winemaking in the Wachau. Their conservation is a collective effort of all winemakers in the region.
The Wachau wine terracing illustrates the symbiosis that began thousands of years ago between the extraordinary natural landscape and our ancestors who established the winegrowing tradition here. Thousands of kilometers of stone walls run through the Wachau and are an impressive testimony to how first the monasteries and later the winemakers occupied and transformed the landscape. They are preserved in honor of the rich culture and complex history of the region.

Without these walls there would be no winegrowing in the steep slope landscapes. Often fully incorporated into the cliffs themselves, the walls span across the mountain terraces and vineyards. The walls are elastic and help to evenly distribute pressure from water, protect against erosion, store heat, and provide a niche shelter for a variety of reptiles, insects, and plants. They demand constant attention that can only be done by hand, but the benefits are essential to our work in the vineyards.

In the Winery

Our wines reflect their origin and the conditions of the vintage. We strive to offer them the best environment for their aging process.
Winemaking is the collaboration between nature and the continued engagement of the winemaker in order to cultivate the most authentic and unique wines possible. Our work in the wine cellar is centered on the goal of preserving what was achieved in the vineyards: bringing together the perfect balance of each wine and individual characteristics of each vineyard into the bottle.

In a nutshell, it is our philosophy to intervene as little as possible yet as much as necessary to achieve our goals. The wooden barrels are essential to the maturation of our wines because they provide the optimal environment for them to age undisturbed.

The 2019 Vintage in the Wachau

The weather in early 2019 was dry and unusually mild, with budbreak setting in at an early stage. The first apricot blossoms were seen on 20 March. Originally an early harvest had been expected as with the previous vintage. But then came May, bringing long-awaited rains and cooler temperatures that slowed the burgeoning vines and brought growth, already well advanced, back into balance.

Flowering progressed well from 10 to 20 June, followed by a summer marked by very hot temperatures on some days and extremely dry periods. Autumn weather arrived on schedule for the harvest in mid-September, and with it warm and mostly sunny days and progressively cooler temperatures at night. There was a marked difference in how the grape varieties ripened. While Riesling showed only moderate sugar levels on into October, Grüner Veltliner quickly sweetened sooner, allowing harvesting to progress rapidly.

Much points to 2019 as having the potential of becoming one of the most elegant and subtle vintages seen in recent years. After maturing long on the vine, the grapes have given rise to profound aromas across all wine styles. The wines are marked by minerality and precision in combination with complexity – and with a powerful character in the case of some Veltliners.

Vinea Wachau

Where in the World is Alzinger?

Vinea Wachau has an excellent interactive map that allows you to explore the region by winery and vineyard. If you want to deep dive into the Wachau read this booklet.