2013 Riesling Loibenberg

Rainer Wess has been making improvements in his gravity-fed cellar on the eastern edge of Krems; adding to his range of vineyard rentals and fruit contracts (each responsible for around half of his production); and planting some of his own Riesling vines in terraces behind the Hund. Since founding this estate (then Loiben-based) in 2003, the former co-director of the Freie Weingärtner cooperative has taken out contracts on fruit from Stein and Krems as well as the Wachau, thus precluding membership in the Vinea Wachau and concomitant rights to label wines “Federspiel” or “Smaragd.” While the focus of Wess’s single-vineyard bottlings is Loiben and adjacent Stein (thus straddling today’s Wachau-Kremstal demarcation), his generic Wachau bottlings represent especially far-reaching sourcing, including from the Spitzer Graben. It’s encouraging to witness this candid, self-critical and inspiringly enthusiastic vintner begin to acquire at home as well as abroad the reputation he deserves for delivering top quality as well as value.

Rainer Wess has now bottled 11 vintages under his own label, easily recognizable by the three small triangles in the center, which are gold when representing first growth sites. Founded in an old courtyard just outside Krems in 2003, most of the estate's best vineyards, including the Loibenberg and Süssenberg, are actually in the Wachau. While I have always had a preference for the Loibenberg among Wess's Grüner Veltliners, my favorite wine is generally the pithy, herbal Riesling from the Pfaffenberg in Krems.