Veyder-Malberg Weissenkirschner 'Weitenberg' Gruner Veltliner, Wachau, Austria 2021

Producing fewer than 1000 cases per year, Peter's range of Gruner Veltliner and Riesling bottlings astound with their depth and complexity. He eschews the typical viticultural traditions of the Wachau.  He is well beyond organic or biodynamic production with his thinking and spends his time cultivating positive working relationships with his insects or conversing with mushrooms and microorganisms that live in the root systems of his vines. These wines are exceptional, whether drinking now, or cellaring and enjoying in the future. 

• Winemaker: Peter Veyder-Malberg
• Farming: Organic (uncertified)
• Variety: Gruner Veltliner
• Terroir: Tucked back about 400 meters off the Danube and looking down to Weißenkirchen, Ried Weitenberg is a warm site, at least for the Wachau. It faces South/Southwest and receives shaded mornings and strong evening sun. An interestering quality of this vineyard is the ancient genetic material planted in the early 1950s with masale selections from the Wachau, which makes each vine different from the next. 
• Soil: Orthogneiss bedrock with some mica schist.
• Vinification: Once the grapes are picked (usually in two pickings for each vineyard, completely avoiding botrytis) they may be macerated for up to 24 hours, depending on the year—higher acid years longer, warm years close to nothing. Basket pressed for 6 8 hours to give clean juice with quality tannins which helps with mouth feel and protection against oxidation, in turn lowering the amount of sulfites needed to properly protect the wine. Tank settled up to 24 hours—cleaner fruit settles less time or none at all. Fermentations are all natural and in a mix (depending the wine) of stainless steel and 300l-800l old barrels and usually peak between 20-25C—higher temperatures may develop unwanted reductive elements and lower temperature unwanted superficial esters. Malolactic fermentation is always natural and usually is completed in Grüner Veltlinesr and rarely in Rieslings. First sulfite additions are made after fermentation for Riesling in December or January following the harvest and after malolactic fermentation for Grüner Veltliner in Spring.
• Aging: Aged for 9 months in old 1500-liter Stockinger oak barrel. Lightly filtered (not sterile filtered). No fining