Winemaker Notes
Alzinger Ried Loibenberg Smaragd Riesling is a reflection of its terroir; concentrated and yet elegant; complex aromatic profile - mostly with tropical nuances; velvety, juicy, yet gripping and lively on the palate.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Crushed lemon leaf and a heady hint of conifer peek through on the shy but nonetheless rather citric nose. The palate with its cut and concentration leaves you in no doubt about its absolute steeliness, its inherent drive, its uncompromising but ripe freshness. That lovely conifer and lemon notion still plays aromatically around the edges, making this heady and lifted. A profound core of stone lends eternal energy. Drink 2025–2050.
Cellar Selection -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
From a significantly late ripening, eastern part of the famous (and too large) cru, the 2019 Ried Loibenberg Loibner Riesling Smaragd is ripe and gentle on the elegant nose that shows perfectly ripe fruit intertwined with stony, herbal and cucumber notes. The palate is vibrantly fresh and vital yet also ripe and concentrated, with an almost pithy raisin aroma that is intermingled with refreshing lemon notes. This is a long-distance runner, and it should be cellared for at least 10 years.
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Wine Spectator
This white is a laser beam of grapefruit, mineral and sage flavors, staying precise and lingering on the succulent finish. Shows fine balance and length, with a hint of eastern spices.
Riesling possesses a remarkable ability to reflect the character of wherever it is grown while still maintaining its identity. A regal variety of incredible purity and precision, this versatile grape can be just as enjoyable dry or sweet, young or old, still or sparkling and can age longer than nearly any other white variety. Somm Secret—Given how difficult it is to discern the level of sweetness in a Riesling from the label, here are some clues to find the dry ones. First, look for the world “trocken.” (“Halbtrocken” or “feinherb” mean off-dry.) Also a higher abv usually indicates a drier Riesling.
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.