Altenberg Riesling Auslese
⏳ Drinking Window
2024 - 2045
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Blue cheese, foie gras, apricot tart
✨ Technical Specifications
The Kanzemer Altenberg is one of the most legendary steep-slope vineyards of the Saar, boasting a dizzying gradient of up to 90% and iron-rich red Devonian slate soils. Historically, wines from this grand cru site were among the most expensive in the world during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, highly prized in royal courts. Van Volxem's Altenberg Riesling Auslese is crafted from extremely low-yielding, ancient vines. The grapes are meticulously hand-harvested at peak ripeness, often with a precise selection of botrytised berries. Spontaneous fermentation with indigenous yeasts and aging in traditional large oak fuder casks preserve the site's intense, smoky minerality, exotic fruit character, and the Saar's signature electric acidity. This combination creates a luscious, highly complex sweet wine with incredible tension and longevity.
🍾 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