2021 Weingut Tegernseerhof, Riesling Smaragd, Reid Steinertal, Wachau, Austria.
Tegernseerhof’s Ried Steinertal Smaragd Riesling is an exceptional and impactful dry Riesling with a stylish density and mouth feel, but still holding on to brisk acidity, mineral toned flavors and balance. The higher must weighted palate, per Smaragd rules, shows off a pleasing generosity and highlights the personality of Austria’s Danube terroir with its steep terraces, loess, rocky and in this case gneiss soils, with the regions cool nights and warmer days. There’s bright apricot, lime, quince, tangerine and green apple fruits, along with wet stones, loam, verbena, bitter herbs, lemon oil, rosewater and almond paste. The Wachau village of Durnstein, on the Danube, where the Tegernseerhof estate is located and sites that have a complex mix of soils from loess to alluvial sands with vines in both hillside terraces and some flatland parcels, which gives the wine balance and with a nice tension between ripe and savory elements. In Tegernseerhof’s cellar Martin Mittelbach allows the wines to ferment naturally in stainless tanks and allows the wines to age on the lees for between 6 and 9 months before bottling. Not far from Krems, this winery has deep historical roots going back over 1000 years, when the Holy Roman Emperor Henry II granted, as the winery notes, the Benedictine monastery of Tegernsee two oxgangs of land in Wachau back In 1176 and where vines were planted and wine was made.
As mentioned before here, Tegernseerhof can always be counted on for quality and stylish offerings, as this impressive Riesling shows and I have always enjoy both their Grüners and Rieslings, which are mostly bone dry and energy filled efforts that never fail to deliver the goods. Winegrower Martin Mittelbach, as noted in prior reviews, is the 5th generation vigneron here at the historic Tegernseerhof, which has been an historic estate for close to a thousand years in the Wachau region of Austria. Again the latest wines available here in the States are a stunning set of jewels that highlight Martin’s talents with crystalline clarity and complexity, as witnessed here with Tegernseerhof’s fabulous Ried Steinertal Riesling Smaragd. According to Tegernseerhof the vineyards of Steinertal form a giant amphitheatre cut into the solid rock. The vines have a facing of South East, with great exposure, and are surrounded by massive and picturesque rock formations. In Austrian wines, the classifications for dry wines rely on must weight, like Kabinett and Spatlese in Germany, but again Smaragd is still considered dry style, it’s a ripeness classification of white wines in the Wachau Valley. With the Smaragd-designated wines being made from the ripest grapes and have a mandated minimum alcohol level of 12.5 percent, white the lighter Federspiel wines, made from either Grüner Veltliner or Riesling, are all under that percentage. In many ways, these Tegernseerhof offerings are still under the radar and take looking for, but they are worth chasing down, especially this outstanding GG like offering.
($51 Est.) 95 Points, grapelive