2022 Domaine Wachau Kellerberg Riesling Smaragd

A monumental dry Riesling from one of the Wachau's great terraced vineyards

Power, minerality and extraordinary precision from the legendary Kellerberg.

96 Points – Falstaff | 94 Points – JamesSuckling.com

Wachau DAC, Austria | Ried Kellerberg, Dürnstein | RRP $99 | Riesling Smaragd | Powerful • Mineral • Complex • Ageworthy

“A magnificent expression of Kellerberg — ripe peach, mandarin and blossom honey wrapped around tremendous mineral tension, precision and length. Powerful Wachau Riesling with remarkable finesse.”

Tasting Notes

Appearance: Light green-yellow with brilliant silver reflections — youthful, pristine and beautifully luminous.

Aroma: A wonderfully complex bouquet of ripe yellow peach, vineyard peach and mandarin, with delicate notes of blossom honey, citrus and crushed stone emerging as the wine opens.

There's richness here, but also tremendous clarity.

Palate: Taut, tightly woven and intensely mineral. Ripe stone fruit flows across a beautifully structured palate, with vibrant acidity cutting through the concentration and keeping everything fresh.

The remarkable thing is how much power is delivered without the wine ever feeling cumbersome.

Concentrated yet light on its feet.

Powerful yet precise.

Ripe yet brilliantly fresh.

Finish: Exceptionally persistent, with vineyard peach, citrus and mineral characters lingering through a long, fine and beautifully controlled finish.

This is serious Riesling.

Critical Acclaim

96 Points – Falstaff

Peter Moser describes a multifaceted bouquet built around yellow peach, mandarin and blossom honey, followed by a taut, tightly knit and mineral palate.

What really stands out is the combination of finesse, persistence and apparent effortlessness.

96 points — with serious ageing potential.

This isn't simply about fruit intensity.

It's the structure underneath it that makes Kellerberg special.

94 Points – JamesSuckling.com

Another outstanding score for one of Domäne Wachau's flagship single-vineyard Rieslings.

At an RRP of $99, this is serious Grand Cru-level Austrian Riesling territory without the price tag now attached to many of the world's great dry Rieslings.

Ried Kellerberg – The Home Vineyard

The vineyard is the star here.

RIED KELLERBERG.

Rising immediately behind Domäne Wachau's beautiful baroque Kellerschlössel in Dürnstein, Kellerberg is literally the estate's home mountain.

And it is spectacular.

The vines cling to steep dry-stone terraces that are so demanding they largely have to be worked by hand.

The soils are lean and rocky, dominated by:

GFÖHLER GNEISS

This ancient primary rock consists predominantly of feldspar and quartz, with sections of the vineyard also carrying deposits of loess.

These poor, rocky soils naturally restrict yields.

The vines have to work.

And Riesling absolutely loves it.

The result is a vineyard capable of producing wines with enormous concentration while retaining a beautifully defined mineral character.

Kellerberg gives you power — but it also gives you stone.

The Kellerberg Difference

Kellerberg receives a stronger Pannonian climatic influence than some cooler Wachau vineyards.

That additional warmth helps Riesling achieve remarkable ripeness and concentration.

But the rocky soils and dramatic terraced landscape provide the tension and mineral structure needed to balance that power.

That's why great Kellerberg can be so compelling.

You get:

Ripe stone fruit

Mandarin & citrus

Subtle blossom honey

Crushed-rock minerality

Vibrant acidity

Serious concentration

Precision & finesse

It's the combination that matters.

Vineyard & Winemaking

This is not easy wine to produce.

The steep stone terraces require painstaking vineyard work, and the naturally poor soils restrict yields.

For the 2022 Kellerberg:

• Riesling was harvested entirely by hand
• Picking took place over multiple passes through the vineyard
• Only rigorously selected fruit was used
• The grapes received several hours of skin contact
• Fermentation took place in stainless steel and large wooden casks
• Fermentation was partly spontaneous
• The wine spent initial time in stainless steel
• It was then matured for several months in large neutral wooden casks

The finished wine sits at approximately 13.5% alcohol.

This is traditional, intelligent winemaking designed to allow the vineyard to speak.

And Kellerberg has plenty to say.

2022 – Precision, Energy & Tension

The 2022 growing season wasn't straightforward.

A mild, dry winter was followed by a wet April, providing the vineyards with valuable water reserves before a hot summer.

September brought rain and challenging conditions around the beginning of harvest.

Then October changed everything.

The sun returned.

The remaining grapes were able to ripen slowly and beautifully, producing wines Domäne Wachau describes as combining:

Elegance

Precision

Energy

Tension

Vital acidity

Clarity

Substance

That's a pretty compelling checklist for serious Riesling.

And Kellerberg had the vineyard pedigree to take full advantage.

What Does Smaragd Mean?

Within the traditional Wachau classification, Smaragd represents the region's most powerful, concentrated and ageworthy dry wines.

The name comes from the emerald-green lizards — Smaragdeidechsen — that can often be seen sunning themselves on the warm stone terraces.

Historically, the Wachau hierarchy comprised:

Steinfeder — the lightest style.

Federspiel — fresh, balanced and medium-bodied.

Smaragd — dry, dense, complex and built to age.

But the best Smaragd wines aren't simply big.

They combine concentration with freshness.

That's exactly what makes Kellerberg so exciting.

Domäne Wachau

Based in Dürnstein, Domäne Wachau has access to an extraordinary patchwork of vineyards throughout this UNESCO-listed stretch of the Danube Valley.

And the estate's single-vineyard wines are where things become particularly serious.

Names such as:

Achleiten

Singerriedel

Loibenberg

Kaiserberg

and

KELLERBERG

represent some of the Wachau's most distinctive terroirs.

Kellerberg holds an especially important position.

It's the estate's home vineyard.

The steep terraces rise directly behind the winery.

This is part of the identity of Domäne Wachau itself.

Food Pairings

This is powerful, structured Riesling and can handle far more than delicate seafood.

Domäne Wachau itself recommends richer dishes, and we completely understand why.

Try it with:

• Fish curry
• Tandoori chicken
• Roast pork
• Wiener Schnitzel
• Fried chicken
• Grilled lobster
• Roast kingfish
• Duck with citrus
• Veal
• Moussaka
• Mature Alpine cheeses

And don't serve it freezing cold.

Give this a big glass and some air.

There's serious complexity waiting underneath.

Why We Love It

This is where the value proposition becomes ridiculous.

You're getting:

Wachau

100% Riesling

Ried Kellerberg

Ancient Gföhler gneiss

Steep dry-stone terraces

Hand-harvested fruit

Smaragd

96 Points – Falstaff

94 Points – JamesSuckling.com

And then there's the price:

RRP $99.

For a serious single-vineyard Riesling from one of the Wachau's great sites?

That's bloody good buying.

---

Drink Now or Cellar?

Both.

The wine already has tremendous appeal.

There's ripe peach.

Mandarin.

Citrus.

Minerality.

Beautiful texture.

And a touch of blossom honey.

But underneath that fruit is a serious structural backbone.

This wine is built to evolve.

With bottle age, expect the primary fruit to develop into increasingly complex characters of preserved citrus, dried apricot, honey, herbs, smoke and mineral spice.

Falstaff specifically highlights its secure ageing potential.

So buy one to drink.

And put a few away.

Because mature Kellerberg Riesling can be something very special.

2022 DOMÄNE WACHAU RIED KELLERBERG RIESLING SMARAGD

Dürnstein | Wachau, Austria

96 Points – Falstaff

94 Points – JamesSuckling.com

RRP $99

Great vineyard.

Steep terraces.

Ancient rock.

Smaragd.

96 points.

Under $100.

Powerful. Mineral. Precise. Monumentally long.

The 2022 Domäne Wachau Kellerberg Riesling Smaragd captures exactly what great Wachau Riesling is about — extraordinary concentration without sacrificing freshness, minerality or finesse.

If the Singerriedel is about elegance and tension, Kellerberg turns the power up another notch.

This is the bigger, deeper and more muscular expression.

Yet somehow it remains light on its feet.

96 Points. One of the Wachau's great vineyards. $99 RRP.

For lovers of serious dry Riesling, this is an absolute cracker.