For many, Alzinger represents the pinnacle of Austrian wine.

When it comes to fine-ness, ageability and sheer class, it's hard to argue.

This does cause problems, because Alzinger is a small estate and their huge following makes finding many of the wines in quantity very difficult. Today, we offer two of the most limited wines of Alzinger's lineup, Riesling Liebenberg and Höhereck.

Liebenberg boasts a level of serene clarity that stands as a monument to what's great and special about Alzinger. Alzinger's holding in the site are at the highest-elevation. Here you get a very intricate, subtle and precise expression.

It is more flowers and mineral than fruit. It's incredibly fine and long. There are few wines (if any) in Austria that come close to delivering whispering delicacy and cool minerality the way that Alzinger's Liebenberg does.

Höhereck is a famous small vineyard just east of Kellerberg, just west of Loibenberg, and just above Schütt. Höhereck combines a firm mineral elegance with a muscular depth of fruit and complexity. Alzinger owns a mere sliver in this elite site - he produces around 800 bottles per vintage.

In Austria, the 2017 vintage leans towards the riper side. This year Alzinger's magical ability to combine intensity, delicacy, and detail is on bold disply. The wines are a finessed and delineated expression of stone, flowers and fruit.

We've been huge fans of Alzinger's wines for over a decade, but the recent vintages have really blown us away. In his I'll Drink to That! podcast interview with Levi Dalton, Leo Alzinger goes in depth about the key changes that have been implemented at the winery in the last few years (regarding lees contact, sulphur use and more) to reach increasingly high levels of quality.

Along with Steinertal, these two bottlings are among my favorites. I should warn you that many people feel the same way and quantities are limited. Give us you ideal order and we'll try our best.

To order, email offers@crushwineco.com or call the store at (212) 980-9463.

Joe Salamone

Wine Buyer
Crush Wine & Spirits