Wachau

**Wachau** is a small, prestigious white-wine region in Austria, set along a dramatic stretch of the Danube west of Vienna. Its steep terraced vineyards are among the most celebrated in Central Europe. **Wines & grapes** — It is almost entirely devoted to dry white wine from two grapes: Grüner Veltliner and Riesling. The region uses its own ripeness classification, from the light Steinfeder through Federspiel to the concentrated, powerful Smaragd. **Character** — Rocky terraced slopes, poor primary-rock soils and a meeting of warm Pannonian and cool northern air give the wines great precision, minerality and length. Grüner shows peppery, citrus notes; Riesling turns stony and stone-fruited. **Good to know** — Many of the terraces are dry-stone walled and worked entirely by hand.

Wines

• Dürnsteiner Liebenberg Grüner Veltliner Smaragd — F.X. Pichler
• Franciscus Grüner Veltliner — Salomon Undhof
• Grüner Veltliner Federspiel — Domäne Wachau
• Grüner Veltliner Smaragd — Domäne Wachau
• Honivogl Grüner Veltliner Smaragd — Franz Hirtzberger
• Kellerberg Riesling Smaragd — F.X. Pichler
• Loibner Oberhauser Riesling Smaragd — F.X. Pichler
• Riesling Smaragd — Donabaum
• Rotes Tor Grüner Veltliner Federspiel — Franz Hirtzberger
• Wachauer Smaragd — Donabaum