Dr Salomon, Riesling Ried Pfaffenberg 1ÖTW, Kremstal 2019 (13.5%)

£40 Lea & Sandeman $65 Fruit of the Vine

Few if any grape varieties can reflect the nuances of origin as Riesling can – which makes Kremstal, with its distinctively complex geology and transitional climate, a fascinating zone in which to craft subtle, expressive wines from this variety. Pale gold in colour, with an alluring, almost perfumed aromatic style (look out for quince, violet and freesia) in the mouth, this Riesling surprises with its intensity, as well as the way that it mingles orchard fruit notes with leaf and plant sap. There’s something that evokes powdered stone on the aftertaste too. It’s dry but not bracingly so – and supremely harmonious already. Elegant, civilised, refined.

It was in 1792 that the Salomons, honouring the legacy of Capuchin monks, first worked their terraced vineyards on the banks of the Danube. The eighth-generation pairing of winemaker Bert Michael and his sister Fay took charge of the property in 2019, after Bert Michael ‘honed his skills’ elsewhere in Austria, and in Australia where the family owns another eponymous estate.

‘With our Pfaffenberg Riesling, we’ve tried to express not only the characteristics of the vineyard (granite and gneiss bedrock, southfacing river terraces at 200m-350m and 80-year-old vines), but also the exquisite ripeness of a growing season that occurs only about once every 25 years,’ says Bert Michael.

Despite its aspect and riverside location, this erste lage (premier cru) site is the last on the estate to be picked thanks to constant valley winds which slow ripening. Bert Michael and Fay have introduced subtle changes including the planting of cover crops and the spraying of compost tea. ‘It is our duty to care for, protect and preserve our soil, in order to pass it on to following generations,’ explains Bert Michael. ‘Only healthy soil can nourish healthy vines, producing grapes that reflect terroir and wines that unmistakably express their place of origin.’