Tegernseerhof 'Ried Kellerberg' Riesling Smaragd, Wachau, Austria 2021
Martin Mittelbach is the fifth generation to run Tegernseerhof, an estate with roots reaching back more than a thousand years in the Wachau — yet he's built one of the region's most uncompromisingly modern styles. Taking over young, he steered the domaine away from his father's sweeter inclinations toward a drier, more linear expression, rigorously excluding botrytis-affected fruit to keep the wines taut and precise. Positioned at the Wachau's eastern edge, where Pannonian warmth collides with cooler currents off the Danube, Tegernseerhof's Rieslings are aged exclusively in steel — intense, focused, and built for structure over flourish.
- Winemaker: Martin Mittelbach
- Farming: Organic
- Variety: 100% Riesling
- Terroir: Ried Kellerberg, Wachau, Austria. Six parcels planted in the late 1990s on a south/southeast-facing slope at 204–336m, on very steep terraces; bedrock is gneiss with topsoil of mostly gneiss and some loess.
- Vinification: Hand-harvested and sorted to remove botrytis-affected fruit; whole-cluster maceration for 6–36 hours; natural fermentation in steel at up to 23°C over 1–2 months; malolactic fermentation rare, and not actively sought.
- Aging: Steel tank, on lees, 6–9 months; fined and filtered.
- Tasting Notes: Pale greenish-yellow; delicate yellow stone fruit, peach, and pineapple with tangerine zest and blossom honey; juicy and tightly woven, with fine acidity and a saline finish.
- Food Pairings: Rich white fish, Wiener schnitzel, or aged hard cheeses.
- Scores: Falstaff (Peter Moser) — 96 points
Tegernseerhof 'Ried Kellerberg' Riesling Smaragd, Wachau, Austria 2021
Martin Mittelbach is the fifth generation to run Tegernseerhof, an estate with roots reaching back more than a thousand years in the Wachau — yet he's built one of the region's most uncompromisingly modern styles. Taking over young, he steered the domaine away from his father's sweeter inclinations toward a drier, more linear expression, rigorously excluding botrytis-affected fruit to keep the wines taut and precise. Positioned at the Wachau's eastern edge, where Pannonian warmth collides with cooler currents off the Danube, Tegernseerhof's Rieslings are aged exclusively in steel — intense, focused, and built for structure over flourish.
- Winemaker: Martin Mittelbach
- Farming: Organic
- Variety: 100% Riesling
- Terroir: Ried Kellerberg, Wachau, Austria. Six parcels planted in the late 1990s on a south/southeast-facing slope at 204–336m, on very steep terraces; bedrock is gneiss with topsoil of mostly gneiss and some loess.
- Vinification: Hand-harvested and sorted to remove botrytis-affected fruit; whole-cluster maceration for 6–36 hours; natural fermentation in steel at up to 23°C over 1–2 months; malolactic fermentation rare, and not actively sought.
- Aging: Steel tank, on lees, 6–9 months; fined and filtered.
- Tasting Notes: Pale greenish-yellow; delicate yellow stone fruit, peach, and pineapple with tangerine zest and blossom honey; juicy and tightly woven, with fine acidity and a saline finish.
- Food Pairings: Rich white fish, Wiener schnitzel, or aged hard cheeses.
- Scores: Falstaff (Peter Moser) — 96 points