Steinertal Riesling
⏳ Drinking Window
2022 - 2035
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
pan-seared trout, roasted pork belly, spicy Thai green curry
✨ Technical Specifications
Ried Steinertal is one of the most distinctive vineyards in the Wachau, situated in a narrow, amphitheater-like valley at the easternmost edge of the region. Here, the vines are exposed to a dramatic climatic tug-of-war: warm Pannonian air currents meet cold, nocturnal winds channeling down from the northern Waldviertel forest. This unique microclimate, combined with steep terraces of highly weathered Gföhl gneiss and minimal topsoil, forces the Riesling vines to struggle, resulting in berries of extraordinary concentration. F.X. Pichler masterfully captures this terroir, utilizing traditional large oak casks to craft a dry Riesling defined by its crystalline structure, electric acidity, and intense, smoky minerality. It is a wine that beautifully illustrates the tension between power and elegance, a hallmark of the estate's artisanal heritage.
🍾 About the Producer
Established in 1898 in Oberloiben, Weingut F.X. Pichler stands as one of the pinnacle estates of Austria's Wachau valley. Elevated to international legend status under Franz Xaver Pichler from 1971 onward, the domain is directed today by seventh-generation winemaker Lucas Pichler alongside his wife Johanna. The estate stewards approximately 20 hectares of vines, largely centered on precipitous, hand-carved dry-stone terraces of primary rock, weathered gneiss, amphibolite, and loess. Benefiting from the climatic tension between warm Pannonian airflows and cool Alpine drafts along the Danube, Pichler crafts monumental, dry white wines of chiselled mineral precision, depth, and longevity. The family shifted to certified organic viticulture and voluntarily departed the Vinea Wachau hierarchy to prioritize terroir-driven Wachau DAC site typicity. Its benchmark portfolio includes single-vineyard expressions from Ried Kellerberg, Loibenberg, and Steinertal, alongside the cult cuvées 'M' and the transcendent 'Unendlich'.
🍇 Grapes
Riesling
🍷 ABV
13-13.5%