Wine & Spirits - Winter 2020 - 42

Top 100 Wineries

O LD WO R LD

Sattlerhof

Prager

AUSTRIA | STYRIA
The Sattlers' talent for producing crystal-clear wines extends
beyond dry sauvignon blanc to chardonnay and sweet wines.

AUSTRIA | WACHAU
Toni Bodenstein's work in restoring old genotypes and farming
methods paid off with stunning results in 2018.

ANDREAS AND
ALEXANDER
SATTLER

THE SATTLERS HAVE BEEN A DRIVING FORCE in
Styria's wine scene since the 1960s, when Wilhelm Sattler made waves by producing dry
wines. He believed they better showed the
potential of southern Styria's steep, stony hills
and sunny continental climate than did the
semisweets in fashion at the time. His son, Willi,
took the idea further, helping to found STK
(Steirische Terroir und Klassikweingüter), a winery consortium dedicated to promoting Styria's
terroir through dry sauvignon blanc.
Today, the Sattlerhof 's winery is a regional
showcase, with a sleek state-of-the-art winery
and a restaurant run by Willi's brother, Hannes.
Andreas Sattler joined his father in the winery
in 2014, and his brother Alexander came on in
2018; together, they've transitioned the vineyards to organics (certiﬁed since 2016) and are
moving toward biodynamics; in the winery,
spontaneous ferments in stainless steel tanks
rule. Not only do these moves serve to preserve
clarity of expression, but they create wines that
shine at the dinner table. -T.Q.T.

2017 Südsteiermark Sauvignon Blanc Trockenbeerenauslese ($65/375ml, 95 points) The
weather in 2017 allowed the Sattlers to let enough
fruit hang late into the season to make 1,000 halfbottles of TBA. A deep golden hue, it's intensely
concentrated-with 251 grams per liter of residual
sugar-that sweetness coming through in the wine's
satin texture. The ﬂavors remain pure and lively, with
notes of candied lemon and springtime herbs revved
by zesty acidity. It's fresh and invigorating, a conversation starter to serve chilled at a pause between
courses.

FOUNDED:

1887

FOUNDED:

OWNERS:

Maria & Willi
Sattler
WINEMAKERS/
VITICULTURISTS :

Andreas &
Alexander Sattler
ACRES OWNED:

99
ANNUAL

2013 Südsteiermark Gamlitz Morillon Trockenbeerenauslese ($55, 92 points) The Sattlers
make ﬁne dry versions of chardonnay (called morillon
locally): Kapellenweingarten, their highest vineyard,
produced a particularly lean, elegant version in 2017.
But this sweet 2013 knocked it out of the park: It
tastes of pure fruit robed in clear caramel, like apples
in a tarte tatin. Grape-skin spice adds a relieving
savor, and the acidity brings the wine to a clean ﬁnish, ready for a cheese plate.

PRODUCTION:

16,666 cases
ESTATE GROWN:

100%
IMPORTER:

Craft + Estate/
Winebow
Imports, NY
42

TONI & ILSE
BODENSTEIN

1715
OWNERS:

Toni & Ilse
Bodenstein
WINEMAKER/
VITICULTURIST:

Toni Bodenstein
ACRES PLANTED:

43
ANNUAL

TONI BODENSTEIN NEVER INTENDED TO BE a vintner; trained as an agronomist and a historian, he
happened to marry into a prominent winemaking family. It wasn't long before he became fascinated by the multiplicity of terroirs within the
Prager's vineyards, and he set about researching
them in detail. Convinced of the need to preserve the genetic richness of the plantings, he
set up nurseries to propagate clonal and massal selections. Today, his vineyards stand out for
their genetic diversity-Wachstum Bodenstein
contains more than 100 genotypes of grüner
veltliner-as well as for their density, with up to
7,000 plants per acre.
To retain the complexity of the fruit from his
sites, he's created a simple protocol: He destems
and lightly crushes the fruit before pressing, and
does not add sulfur; then he viniﬁes in stainless
steel, with yeasts particular to the plot (cultivated
in pieds de cuve). He leaves the wines on their lees,
but doesn't stir them, building in strong but lean
structures. The end result is wines that combine
sleek elegance with profound minerality, a sort of
site-speciﬁc conjoining of air and earth. -T.Q.T.

2018 Wachau Achleiten Grüner Veltliner Smaragd ($75, 95 points) Achleiten is a steep hill of
gneiss, slate and amphibolite rising to 1,500 feet
over the Danube. Toni Bodenstein assembles this
wine from parcels of different ages, altitudes and
soils, a 2018 that radiates the hill's power in its sunsoaked, mineral-drenched ﬂavors. Grüner's green
notes lean into rich mango and litchi, even as the
wine feels brisk, capturing the coolness of the rock
beneath the vines. Its clarity and precision is stunning, promising a long future ahead.
2018 Wachau Klaus Riesling Smaragd ($75, 93
points) Neighboring Achleiten, Klaus is vertiginously
steep at the top, where Prager's riesling parcel was
planted in 1952, the old vines rooted in gneiss with
barely any soil to cover. They eked out an intense
riesling in 2018, peachy and dense, with grapefruit
and ginger ﬂavors bound tightly by saline minerality.

PRODUCTION:

2018 Südsteiermark Sauvignon Blanc ($19, 91
points) Made from estate-grown young-vine fruit
and some purchased fruit, this is Sattlerhof's chic
and modern take on sauvignon, with clean lines and
bright acidity. Friendly in its tropical fruit ﬂavors, this
is mouthwatering in the end, where salinity kicks up
the underlying herbal notes.

WINE & SPIRITS

BUYING GUIDE 2021

8,333 cases
ESTATE GROWN:

100%
IMPORTER:

Craft + Estate/
Winebow
Imports, NY

2018 Wachau Wachstum Bodenstein Riesling
Smaragd ($75, 91 points) Bodenstein makes this
wine from Hinter Seiber, a cool site bordering a forest
at 1,500 feet in elevation. He planted this parcel in
1990 to 25 genotypes of riesling, which combine in a
bright and nervy wine, the herbal, citric ﬂavors ringing
out with clarity and drive.

Wine & Spirits - Winter 2020

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