Leo Alzinger, Steinertal Gruner Veltliner Smaragd, Wachau

A bit spritzy but this dissolved with time. Pale colored still and with the zing of acidity that sets Alzinger apart from the larger scaled Wachauvians. Delicious and mature. Not fading but hard to imagine this getting better from here. Bravo!

2004 vintage

Opens with a deep yellow-gold hue, and quite round and fleshy, and feels fully mature if not a wee bit past it. But it brightens and crisps up nicely with air time. The last glass that had warmed up to the room was actually more refreshing than the first right out of the fridge.

2009 vintage

Pears, white pepper, honey. Nice glycerin gloss on the palate, weighty, harmonious.

2009 vintage

Apricot, nectarine, citrus, and minerals on the nose. Medium acidity with orange peel, more apricot, and peach flavors on the palate. Nice finish.

2009 vintage

After the lemon and lime on the open blousy nose, the palate reveals alcohol and harsh, harsh extraction, and spicy horseradish note. This is a good but rustic wine.

2009 vintage

Stone fruit, peach and minerals on the nose. Good acidity and minerality, with muted citrus on the palate. Long finish.

2009 vintage

Such a great showing. Reductive at first and really benefits from vigorous swirling (we did not decant), and then the smoky and somewhat sulfurous aromas lift and the wine is clear as a bell with harmonious and lovely stonefruit, floral and stony aromas. Vivid acidity on the palate, which is very focused and long, with subtle detail and complexity. Delicious and highly expressive wine. Some one said that it tasted like Riesling, and it made me think that what we …

2004 vintage

This is just awesome on so many levels. It's the sort of wine where I could spend a lot of time just enjoying the aromatics and following it over a few hours, with an array of flavours ranging from fresh citrus fruits and green beans to herbs, flowers, stone, and more developed creamy elements, but there's also a sheer refreshment and sense of freshness here that makes it all too easy to just drink a glass without even thinking, for …

2004 vintage

A very ripe and rich style of Grüner Veltliner, really a big and powerful wine with enormous length, classy pepper notes, but the fruit is more tropical than usual for the variety, no botrytis and honey notes though which I encountered with many other 2009s, very clean and pure but very, very ripe. I usually like my GV a bit fresher, but there is no denying this is a superb wine with good ageing potential. - 91 ponts

2009 vintage

Lovely, lovely wine. Initially very floral and the aromas have a candied edge, but then after a brief decant the wine harmonizes, (looses the florality though) and becomes rather beautiful. Nose is classic sour cream and green herbs, citrus, stone, and all very wispy and delicate, although the wine possesses plenty of focus and power. The finish is complex and the only thing I can find wrong here is that the midpalate is not as concentrated or complex as it …

2004 vintage

Fragrant and friendly on the palate with green pea, white pepper, hints of stone fruits and mineral flavors. Well balanced and in a nice place right now. It goes down easy and while there's enough going on in it to make you think about it if you want to, it's also disarming enough to just put a smile on your face when you take a sip as you focus on the conversations around you. B+/A- .

2004 vintage

Steinertals at Seasonal (Seasonal, NYC) : Surprisingly this comes across riper than the '06, showing a slightly overripe banana element amidst bright citrus and peachy fruit with a powerful peppery seasoning. This is a big wine, but remarkably well balanced with tremendous acidity that gives it razor sharp precision and focus, and while it's incredibly primary right now, I reckon this will be something pretty special with time.

2009 vintage

Steinertal Vertical (Seasonal) : Much improved from my last bottle a few months ago. It still has that weird banana flavor but it's developed a seriously edgy, racy texture - boxier and less sleek than the rieslings but just as defined and angular. The difference in grape variety gives this a slightly yellower tone and perhaps a thicker density to the fruit. But it is still chiseled and precise.

2009 vintage

It's usually the Riesling Steinertal I buy from Alzinger, but for whatever reason those were vacuumed up this year so I ended up with some gruner, which I haven't had since the 2006 and which struck me then as more blatantly tropically fruited than the riesling and not quite on the same level. This vintage is in that mold and actually even riper than the 2006 was, with an unmistakable banana flavor running through it and a creamy, fleshy texture …

2009 vintage

Vievinum Internationales Weinfestival; 5/29/2010-5/31/2010 (Wiener Hofburg) : N: fruchtig, frisch, Apfel, komplex; G: ssf, dezent, leicht fruchtig, trinkfluss

2009 vintage

Pale .. slightly green/yellow color. Apple skins, baked apples, tangerine, green pea, wet stones. Silk on silk, slithering minerality, robust acidity on a spiney long finish. Simply wonderful to drink and that usual Alzinger 'don't know how high the rating is but damn fine to drink'. And absolute perfection with Chicken Paprikas.

2004 vintage

Still has good minerality but some green fruit is showing up 89 points.

2004 vintage

2004 Vintage of Weingut Alzinger (Austria) (Alzinger Winery in Unterloiben, Wachau valley, Austria.) : This shows much more complexity than the federspiel. Low in acidity for a Gruve due to the 2004 vintage conditions. Coconut and tropical fruit notes interspersed with a good minerality. I liked this better than the WA who recently rated this 88 points. 90 points for me.

2004 vintage

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Leo Alzinger, Steinertal Gruner Veltliner Smaragd, Wachau

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