Altenberg Riesling Beerenauslese
⏳ Drinking Window
2025 - 2065
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
blue cheese, foie gras, fruit tarts
✨ Technical Specifications
The Kanzemer Altenberg is legendary, renowned as one of the steepest vineyard sites in the entire Saar region, with slopes reaching an incredible 90% gradient. This sheer wall of weathered red Devonian slate acts as a perfect solar collector, allowing Riesling grapes to achieve extraordinary ripeness in a cool climate. Van Volxem's Altenberg Riesling Beerenauslese is a rare liquid masterpiece born only in exceptional vintages. It is crafted from individually hand-selected, botrytized berries shriveled to concentrated perfection. Historically, wines from the Altenberg were among the most expensive in the world during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, gracing the tables of emperors and grand hotels. Spontaneously fermented and aged with minimal intervention, this Beerenauslese strikes a breathtaking balance between luscious, honeyed tropical fruit sweetness and the Saar's trademark mineral-driven, electric acidity.
🍾 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