Ried Zieregg IZ Sauvignon Blanc Reserve
⏳ Drinking Window
Typically best enjoyed 5–20 years from release
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Pan-seared turbot with beurre blanc, dry-aged roasted squab with chanterelles, or aged Comté cheese.
✨ Technical Specifications
Cultivated on the steep, coralline limestone and calcareous marl soils of the single vineyard Ried Zieregg along the Slovenian border, this cuvée represents an extreme exercise in reductive and oxidative tension. 'IZ' designates 'Interzero'—an experimental cellar approach involving prolonged spontaneous whole-berry skin contact and slow ambient-yeast fermentation in neutral neutral oak casks. The wine rests undisturbed on its fine lees for several years without sulfur additions, fining, or filtration prior to bottling, yielding exceptional textural depth, chalky salinity, and structural austerity.
🍾 About the Producer
Established in 1959 by Josef and Edina Tement, Weingut Tement rose to global acclaim under Manfred Tement, who transformed the family's modest holdings into an international benchmark for Austrian viticulture. Perched atop the rugged limestone ridge of Ried Zieregg along the border of Slovenia in Südsteiermark, the estate commands precipitous slopes composed of coralline limestone, marl, and schist. Today directed by Manfred alongside sons Armin and Stefan, the domaine converted fully to biodynamics, earning Demeter and respekt-BIODYN certifications. Cellar philosophy hinges on unhurried, low-intervention vinification, spontaneous native-yeast fermentations, neutral oak casks, and prolonged maturation on fine lees without fining or unnecessary filtration. The estate's benchmark bottlings—most notably Ried Zieregg Sauvignon Blanc, Ried Zieregg IZ Reserve, and site-driven expressions of Morillon and Weissburgunder—display tension, saline minerality, structural depth, and profound aging potential.
🍇 Grapes
Sauvignon Blanc
🍷 ABV
13-13.5%