2022 Riesling Loibenberg Smaragd

Wine Details
Place of Origin

Austria

Loiben

Wachau

Color

White

Grape/Blend

Riesling

Vintages
Reviews & Tasting Notes

00

Drinking Window

2025 - 2045

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Franz-Josef Gritsch is the seventh generation of his family to make wine in Spitz. His forebears purchased the 13th-century Mauritiushof, formerly a possession of the Bavarian Benedictine Niederaltaich Abbey, in 1799, following the secularization of some monasteries introduced by the Habsburgs. Gritsch trained in Krems and Burgenland, and took over his family estate in 1999. He now farms 15 hectares of vineyards, which, unusually, cover the length of the Wachau, from the Spitzer Graben (a lateral valley at the western end) to Unterloiben. These are split into 60% Grüner Veltliner, 30% Riesling and 5% each of Muskateller and Sauvignon Blanc—the latter now grafted over to Pinot Noir (an interesting development that I cannot wait to taste). Fruit is bought from a further five hectares for the entry-level Kalmuck line, not reviewed here. For the top wines, up to three harvest passes are made in the vineyards. Depending on the vintage, Gritsch employs some skin contact “for strength and contour,” he says, and handles the musts oxidatively for longevity in the wines. Fermentation is done with both cultured and indigenous yeasts. The single-site wines are fermented in 2,000-liter oak barrels. Wines are racked after fermentation and stay on their fine lees until bottling in May or June of the following year. The house style is rounded, full-fruited and generous, with juicy expression and mouth-filling smoothness in both Riesling and Grüner Veltliner. Gritsch has recultivated parts of the Kalkofen site in the Spitzer Graben and owns the historic vineyard at the foot of Dürnstein Castle as a monopole. Gritsch commenced the 2022 harvest on 20 September and finished on 8 November. During my visit, I tasted the 2022 Grüner Veltliners and Rieslings, and the late-released 2021 Riesling Vision Wachau.