Altenberg Riesling Alte Reben Grosse Lage Nr23
⏳ Drinking Window
2022 - 2038
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Roasted duck, creamy mushroom risotto, spicy Asian cuisine
✨ Technical Specifications
Hailing from the legendary Kanzemer Altenberg, one of the steepest vineyard sites in the entire Saar valley with a dizzying slope of up to 110 percent, this wine represents the pinnacle of Van Volxem's artisanal craftsmanship. The 'Alte Reben' (ancient vines) here are largely ungrafted and over a century old, digging their roots deep into the iron-rich, red Devonian slate soils. Historically, wines from the Altenberg were prized alongside the finest Bordeaux growths at the turn of the 20th century. Van Volxem vinifies this Grosse Lage masterpiece using traditional spontaneous fermentation in large oak fuder casks, allowing the wild yeasts to carve out a wine of immense structural complexity. The result is a majestic, multi-layered Riesling that seamlessly marries the Saar's cool-climate tension with an exotic, texturally rich mineral depth.
🍾 About the Producer
Perched dramatically above the Saar River in Wiltingen, Weingut Van Volxem is one of Germany's most heralded historic wine estates. Originating as a Roman villa complex with viticulture traced back to the 3rd century, the property operated as a Jesuit monastery winery established in 1743 before being acquired post-secularization by Brussels brewer Gustav van Volxem. In late 1999, Roman Niewodniczanski acquired the estate and orchestrated an ambitious renaissance, revitalizing storied steep-slope vineyards and inaugurating a state-of-the-art gravity-fed winery atop the Wiltinger Schlossberg. Managing approximately 85 hectares on Devonian slate across top-tier VDP.Grosse Lage sites—such as Scharzhofberger, Wiltinger Gottesfuß, Volz, and Ockfener Bockstein—the estate works predominantly with old, ungrafted Riesling vines. Practicing sustainable, non-interventional viticulture, cellar master Dominik Völk champions spontaneous wild-yeast fermentations and extended aging in neutral oak and stainless steel. Van Volxem produces intensely mineral, low-alcohol, dry-leaning Rieslings and refined sparkling Sekts that revive the aristocratic, turn-of-the-century prestige of traditional Saar wines.
🍇 Grapes
Riesling
🍷 ABV
12% - 12.5%