Riesling Smaragd 2016

95/100 Punkte Falstaff-Weinguide 2017/18
Helles Gelbgrün, Silberreflexe. Noch etwas verhalten, zarte gelbe Tropenfrucht, kühle Aromen, mineralischer Touch. Straff, feine gelbe Fruchtnunacen, stoffiger Kern, fein ziselierte Säurestruktur, zarter Orangentouch, dunklere Mineralität im Abgang, gute Länge, sehr saftiger Stil.

92+/100 Punkte Robert Parker August 31, 2017
Alzinger's 2016 Ried Loibenberg Riesling Smaragd displays warm, ripe and intense Riesling fruit that is perfectly intermixed with coolish, smoky-mineral flavors. On the palate, this is a pure, fresh, mineral, beautifully linear and finessed Riesling that reflects the cooler part of the Loibenberg. The finish remains fresh, shows nice grip and salinity as well as the classic fruit concentration of a cooler vintage. A beautiful Loibenberg that is more generous and round compared to the corresponding Steinertal that is more built on freshness and grip! Tasted in July 2017, one week after the bottling.

93/100 Punkte Vinous, December 2018
In keeping with the chilly conditions attending 2016#s harvest and the concomitant potential for letting Loibenberg fruit hang without risk of alcoholic excess, this bottling exhibits an unusually cool and animating combination of fruit and herbs for a wine from that site. But Alzinger was quick to remind me that it originates in a high-elevation, unusually cool and wind-exposed sector of that enormous, heterogeneous vineyard, a spot appropriately known as #Rauereck# (#harsh corner#). Crunchy apple and juicy, strongly rind-inflected honeydew melon are laced with mint and fennel on a polished palate. Smoky, incisive nips of Szechuan peppercorn, sizzling lime zest, mineral salts and crystalline stony impingements grippingly, invigoratingly and mouthwateringly extend a finish further enlivened by a generous dose of fresh lime.