Rotgipfler, “Ried Pfaffstättner Tagelsteiner”

This single-site offering, from the high-altitude gravelly clay-limestone of the Tagelsteiner vineyard just outside the town of Pfaffstätten, illustrates the expressive capabilities of Rotgipfler at its finest. Clearly articulated and very Alpine fruit undergirds a palate of remarkable tension and penetrating, chalky minerality, and an overall sense of concentration bodes well for this wine’s long future. In the cellar, this is handled in precisely the same fashion as the village-level wine: spontaneous fermentation and aging on the fine lees in 18-hectoliter Viennese-oak casks of 30 or more years of age, and bottled after one year of aging with only a gentle filtration.