Riesling RSS “This is not a love song” Holzfass 2018

This is a Riesling from 80-year-old vines from parcels of the Steiner Schreck, which are farmed in a Demeter-certified manner. The Steiner Schreck lies around 320 metres above sea level and is one of the steepest sites in the Krems Valley. It is characterised by Gföller gneiss and granite. The Riesling was harvested at the equivalent of 11 vol-% with a pH of 2.8 on 26 August, earlier than ever before. It was then pressed extremely slowly over two days on the 100-tonne tree press we designed ourselves. The pressing process itself is completely reductive, but afterwards the juice has time to brown, so it is deliberately subjected to oxidation. The juice is fermented spontaneously and aged for more than two years on the full lees in a large Stockinger wooden barrel. During fermentation, Markus Lang adds 3 to 5 % destemmed grapes, which ferment intercellularly, thus repeatedly kick-starting the fermentation process despite the constant 9 °C in the cellar. Later, the wine is minimally sulphurised. It was bottled unfiltered and lightly sulphured in February 2021 at about 3.2 pH.

pale straw yellow

A comparison with the same wine from the stoneware amphora shows how clearly the large wood affects the Riesling. Whereas the nose there concentrates on the pure Riesling including yeast storage, here it is the components wine, yeast storage and wood. And the latter brings an additional dimension of creaminess, oak and ripe yellow stone fruit, of pineapple, grapefruit and more brioche. Here, too, the wine shows itself clear and precise, but more on the fruit than the Riesling from the stoneware. The wood is already quite well integrated, but one can still give the wine time.

The Riesling from the Steiner Schreck is unique. This is just as true for the variant from the earthenware amphora as for this wine from the wood. This one, too, appears floating and ethereal and, with its 11 vol.-%, quite slender, while the old vines provide an additional dimension of depth and minerality. But this depth is also supported by the ageing in wood, which brings a certain extract sweetness to the wine, a little tannin, but also more fruit, while the long lees ageing provides salt and a silky texture. On the one hand, the Riesling seems light and bright, fresh and punchy and so laid back like an experienced jazz player. On the other hand, the wood provides substance and, in addition to all the citrus fruit, the fine herbal spiciness and stoniness, also notes of ripe pineapple. It is hardly a coincidence that the composition of this wine reminds one more of Burgundy than of Krems and Wachau. Everything seems clear and elegant, coherent and deeply independent with a clear signature.