Winemaker Notes
Cool basic tone, animating spice and fruit notes; straightforward & firm - clearly characterized by cooler climatic influences; vital acid, powerful and precise.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
A whiff of passion fruit lends a tropical overtone to the full-on ripeness on the nose. The palate continues with this swishing, generous juiciness that showcases Mirabelle plum and ripe pear. Structural elements of bitter pith, salty yeast and tingling zest complete the picture of a most concentrated, energetic and driven wine that resonates with life and flavor. This is warm and powerful but beautifully streamlined.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
From the central, loess-dominated part of the famous cru, Alzinger's 2018 Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Ried Loibenberg opens with a very delicate and elegant bouquet of ripe fruits intermixed with a very fine and crystalline flint stone note. Ripe, intense and juicy on the palate, this is a more charming, lush and accessible Veltliner compared to the Liebenberg, but the finish has the same vitality, mineral freshness and tension. The Loibenberg GV is just warmer and more charming in its remarkably elegant character. Tasted at the domain in September 2019.
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Wine Spectator
Effusive, with notes of pear and bitter citrus oil that are offset by lively acidity, gliding along the silky texture. Lentil and tobacco accents emerge, along with some alcohol on the finish. Needs time, but will deliver in a few years. Best from 2021 through 2031
Fun to say and delightfully easy to drink, Grüner Veltliner calls Austria its homeland. While some easily quaffable Grüners come in a one-liter—a convenient size—many high caliber single vineyard bottlings can benefit from cellar aging. Somm Secret—About 75% of the world’s Grüner Veltliner comes from Austria but the variety is gaining ground in other countries, namely Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and the United States.
As Austria’s most prestigious wine growing region, the landscape of the Wachau is—not surprisingly—one of its most dramatic. Millions of years ago, the Danube River chiseled its way through the earth, creating steep terraces of decomposed volcanic and metamorphic rock. Harsh Ice Age winds brought deposits of ancient glacial dust and loess to the terrace’s eastern faces. Today these steep surfaces of nutrient-poor and fast draining soil are home to some of Austria’s very best sites for both Grüner Veltliner and Riesling.
Wachau is small, comprising a mere three percent of Austria’s vine surface and, considering relatively low yields, represents a miniscule proportion of total wine production. Diurnal temperature shifts in Wachau facilitate great balance of sugar and phenolic ripeness in its grapes. At night cold air from the Alps and forests in the northwest displace warm afternoon air, which gets sucked upstream along the Danube.
Its sites are actually so varied and distinct that more emphasis is going into vineyard-designated offerings even despite grape variety. Grüner Veltliner and Riesling are most prominent, but the region produces Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc (Weissburgunder), Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc and Zweigelt among other local variants.