Josef Fischer Riesling 'Ried Steiger' Smaragd Wachau 2021

While Grüner Veltliner thrives in the loess-dominated sites of the Wachau, Riesling prefers poorer soil. Situated close to the Danube on a gentle 29% incline, Rossatz’s Steiger vineyard is rich with paragneiss and littered with crushed stones, and Fischer works a parcel of 25-year-old Riesling here. The wine displays striking varietal purity on the nose, with green apples, small white flowers, and murmuring stoniness. With less than a gram per liter of residual sugar, it slices through the palate like a scythe, leaving an impression of coolness and salinity on the lengthy finish.