Ried Grassnitzberg Sauvignon Blanc Erste STK Lage 2017 1500ml

Even though the Zieregg site is generally considered the winery's Grand Cru site, the Grassnitzberg vineyard is one of the best Sauvignon Blanc sites around. And for the Tements, it is special anyway, because Armin and Stefan Tement's grandparents planted their first vineyard there in the 1950s. It is a special, self-contained basin site at an altitude of 300 to 420 meters. It faces south-southeast and is characterized by coral limestone weathered soils with a light clay layer. A special feature is the comparatively cool climate and especially the strong night cooling. The Sauvignon blanc was fermented spontaneously to 1.4 grams of residual sugar with 6.5 grams of acidity and later, depending on the batch, aged for twelve or 18 months in large neutral wooden barrels on the fine lees and then bottled unfiltered.

medium straw yellow with light green reflections

Already the scent of the Grassnitzberg reed is more than beguiling. Although you know immediately which grape variety you have in the glass, because there are some hints of it, such as the typical chalky note in the background, some mint, nettle and cassis, but otherwise this is a white and yellow fruity, fleshy wine with the scent of yellow pears, mirabelles, pure clover, some melon and elderflower, some orange even and a hint of saffron.

On the palate, this great and complex experience continues, indeed it goes even further, it becomes even deeper, even more complex. The Sauvignon blanc is immensely powerful, but does not limit itself to that. Rather, it initially shows silky elegance with the finest texture. The fruit is ripe and sweet, even though the wine is actually completely dry with 1.4 grams of residual sugar. The green pyrazines so typical of Sauvignon blanc are also as restrained on the palate as they are on the nose. You find them, they make their contribution, but they don't push themselves to the fore. Gooseberries are there, also cassis, a little mint, but above all again the ripe stone fruit. This is interspersed with an equally ripe, very lively acidity, which is increasingly supported by a very profound minerality towards the end and carries the wine into a long, fresh, silky and salty finish. At the latest then it becomes obvious how clear, how pure, how balanced the Grassnitzberg even though he is just at the beginning of a development that surely has potential for 20 years.