Austria White Wines

wines

The 2021 Ried Zieregg Steilriegel GSTK comes from 41-year-old Morillon vines in the west-facing part of the grand cru that is 400 to 480 meters in altitude. The wine blends in some percentages of Sauvignon Blanc as well. It opens with a deep, intense and complex bouquet of ripe fruit that intermingles with the coralline limestone notes of the Zieregg and the sur lie notes perfectly well. The wine is full-bodied, rich and intense as well as powerful and sustainably structured, revealing remarkable finesse, mineral liveliness and tension. The finish is huge, expressive and very salty, whereas the body is structured by substance, minerals and fine tannins. This is a wine to be enjoyed from a big glass. It’s still very young but a giant in the making. It was bottled unfiltered with 14% stated alcohol and sealed with a glass stopper. Tasted in Lech/Arlberg in December 2024 and in September 2024 in Grafenegg.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 98 RPLots of smoked-bacon character but also a note of apples caramelized in butter make this surprisingly rich and full-bodied chardonnay for this high-altitude region stand out. Only in the bright, long finish does the mountain freshness of the Steiermark come through, and how delightful it is to smell its dew-laden meadows. From organically grown grapes. Drink or hold. Glass stopper.James Suckling | 95 JS

Tement’s 2021 Ried Zieregg Kapelle GSTK is deep, precise and elegant on the coolish and substantial nose that intermingles ripe black cassis aromas with iodine notes that represent the particular soils perfectly: heavy clay on coralline limestone. Full-bodied, refined and elegant on the palate, this is a generous yet uplifted and even delicate, refined and persistently saline Sauvignon Blanc with enormous savoriness and fine but remarkably expressive mineral acidity. Very tensioned and long on the palate, this is a giant in the making. 14% stated alcohol. Glass stopper. I tasted this several times between September 2024 and April 2025.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 97 RPAlready, the striking nose of curry and wild thyme marks this as a very special sauvignon blanc. So concentrated but also incredibly elegant on the medium-bodied palate. Then comes the mind-blowingly intense, long finish in which chalk and limes are almost perfectly interwoven. A masterpiece that’s still very young. From organically grown grapes. Drink or hold. Glass stopper.James Suckling | 97 JS