Steinertal Vertical

Seasonal
Tasted Wednesday, September 14, 2011 by Keith Levenberg with 827 views

Flight 1 (3 Notes)

  • 2009 Alzinger Riesling Smaragd Steinertal 94 Points

    Austria, Niederösterreich, Wachau

    Exceptionally fresh and pretty scent like a field of spring greenery. Impressively detailed, with that pixellated textural sensation that gets more and more jagged as it sits in the glass.

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  • 2009 F.X. Pichler Riesling Smaragd Ried Steinertal 94 Points

    Austria, Niederösterreich, Wachau

    Started out a little sulfury but not enough to be a bother. Perhaps this was broader than the Alzinger, but it was just as precise and even seemed to have a stronger stony mineral component.

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  • 2008 F.X. Pichler Riesling Smaragd Ried Steinertal 95 Points

    Austria, Niederösterreich, Wachau

    It was a big surprise to find this vintage showing more lush and rich than either producer's 2009, with a waxiness to its texture that some started to speculate might have reflected some botrytis. But none of this came at the expense of its character and definition. The complexion was still bright with a ton of rockiness and a finish that was positively cleansing. I preferred this to the 2009s.

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Flight 2 (2 Notes)

  • 2007 Alzinger Riesling Smaragd Steinertal 93 Points

    Austria, Niederösterreich, Wachau

    Really fresh and icy, not showing the stony minerality that some of the other vintages did, but very focused and acute. More of that pixelated sensation as it sits in the glass. This pairing probably showed a more dramatic style contrast with the Pichler than the others: this wine was leaner, maybe more lithe, and higher-pitched.

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  • 2007 F.X. Pichler Riesling Smaragd Ried Steinertal 92 Points

    Austria, Niederösterreich, Wachau

    Starts out similarly to the Alzinger but then deepens in tone, and with this pairing the style contrast between the two producers is more closely aligned to expectations: this is the more broad-shouldered of the two, the Alzinger more acute.

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Flight 3 (3 Notes)

  • 2006 Alzinger Riesling Smaragd Steinertal 96 Points

    Austria, Niederösterreich, Wachau

    Thankfully this has opened up enough since my last foray into it that it's beginning to show again some of that spectacular array of complexity it started out with a few years ago, it's just a pure power chord that seems to hit more notes than you can count, although focused on the higher-pitched end of the spectrum.

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  • 2004 Alzinger Riesling Smaragd Steinertal 95 Points

    Austria, Niederösterreich, Wachau

    Another winning bottle of this, and still very fresh. The fruit is just as bright as the newer vintages but it's starting to show just a touch more character and precision - it's packed with sharp, prickly rocks.

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  • 2001 Alzinger Riesling Smaragd Steinertal 89 Points

    Austria, Niederösterreich, Wachau

    This was the first bottle that actually started to show the deeper tones of bottle age. Actually, it came across more aged and less fresh than the older vintnages that followed it with a touch of something butterscotchy, and while it certainly had the intrigue to reward drinking, there was something about it that seemed a bit listless. Certainly it had none of the tightly coiled tension that nearly all the other vintages had; this came across a little plump and bulbous in comparison.

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Flight 4 (3 Notes)

  • 1995 Alzinger Riesling Smaragd Steinertal 97 Points

    Austria, Niederösterreich, Wachau

    Back to its characteristic brightness after the somewhat unusually advanced 2001. Again, this doesn't taste any older than the younger vintages, just more defined. There's such a vivid sensation of rocks and gravel that it actually feels prickly, and it influences the flavor as much as the texture. A lot of them had that sensation but none of them conveyed it as powerfully and evocatively as this. I'm getting that same sensation about the fruit profile that I noticed last time; it's so lean and devoid of baby fat that you almost seem to experience the fruit more as light than as liquid -- you get a sense of how bright its complexion is but in terms of the wine's physical material it's all about the rocks. The fruit is just the light the rocks are basking in.

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  • 1999 F.X. Pichler Riesling Smaragd Ried Steinertal 89 Points

    Austria, Niederösterreich, Wachau

    I found this one the weak link in the trio of older vintages. There was something a little strange about it, as it had sort of a loose, fanned-out physical presence and a wheat-like tinge to the flavor that gave it a very different complexion from the rest.

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  • 1992 F.X. Pichler Riesling Smaragd Ried Steinertal 95 Points

    Austria, Niederösterreich, Wachau

    Shockingly fresh, as bright as anything on the table. Sleek lemony goodness and stones galore.

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Flight 5 (2 Notes)

  • 2009 Alzinger Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Steinertal 94 Points

    Austria, Niederösterreich, Wachau

    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.

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  • 2006 Alzinger Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Steinertal 94 Points

    Austria, Niederösterreich, Wachau

    Interesting, if I hadn't had this a few years ago I would have assumed that it's not showing any development, because it tastes very, very, very similar to the 2009 (but without that banana thing going on in the 2009). But in comparison to my bottle a few years ago this is showing much more of its structure and now has serious gravitas.

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