For us, the Ried Bruck is one of Austria's absolute favorite sites when it comes to Riesling. Why? Because these wines convey an unmistakably Austrian feeling. In the aroma, you often find those warm, slightly stewed apricots, just like you know them from grandma's apricot dumplings. We’ll skip the cocoa today – after all, we’ve grown up and are drinking wine now. And preferably that of the Grabenwerkstatt.
The soil of the Ried Bruck is unique: a complex conglomerate of mica schist, orthogneiss, and amphibolite. At an altitude of nearly 400 meters, the grapes ripen here under cool morning conditions and long, warm hours of sunshine in the evening—an ideal interplay that gives this site its dancing acidity and taut precision.
On the palate, the Riesling is straightforward, taut, with pointed phenolics that glide across the tongue and lead into a salty-saline finish that is simply phenomenal. One could also simply say: awesome.
Since 2021, the Grabenwerkstatt has no longer been a member of the Vinea Wachau Nobilis Districtus; therefore, the traditional designations Federspiel and Smaragd are no longer to be found. For the two winemakers, the focus today is on origin—the site itself—while classification by must weight is steadily losing significance due to climate change.
The 2021 vintage is considered one of the best of the last ten years in the Wachau and impressively showcases the potential of this site.
