Overview
Ried Steinberg is a 5.5 hectare vineyard in Grinzing, in Vienna's 19th district of Döbling, and one of the twelve Viennese sites classified as Erste Lage by the Österreichische Traditionsweingüter (ÖTW) after the WienWein group of estates joined the classification in 2018; the 2017 vintage was the first that could carry the 1ÖTW designation on the label. The twelve Viennese Erste Lagen together cover 18.4 hectares, 2.9 percent of the city's 637 hectares of vines, and Steinberg belongs to the Grinzing group of three, alongside Ried Seidenhaus and Ried Schenkenberg. It is among Vienna's oldest documented vineyards: a record of April 5, 1340 mentions the site, and a document of October 1391 records the sale of a vineyard "ze Grintzingen an dem Stainperge". The name derives from a stone quarry that once operated nearby.
Terroir & Position
The vineyard lies at roughly 303-330 meters above sea level in the hills above Grinzing, adjoining the Nussberg massif on the right bank of the Danube. The slope is gentle, with an incline of 5-10 degrees, and the exposure runs from southeast to southwest. Weingut Cobenzl describes the subsoil as the Vienna sandstone zone (Flysch) with a low lime share; the terrain was shaped by the former sea, and numerous seabed deposits give the topsoil a high calcium content. The planted material is dominated by the co-planted field blend for Wiener Gemischter Satz, with Grüner Veltliner and Riesling also recorded on the Hajszan Neumann parcels.
Producers
Weingut Cobenzl, the City of Vienna's own estate, farms Steinberg and bottles it as Wiener Gemischter Satz DAC Ried Steinberg 1ÖTW. Weingut Hajszan Neumann, based in Grinzing at the foot of the Nussberg and farmed biodynamically since 2006, bottles a Grüner Veltliner Ried Steinberg 1ÖTW; the estate has been owned and run by Fritz Wieninger since 2014, so the site sits within the Wieninger sphere through Hajszan Neumann, although Weingut Wieninger itself lists no Steinberg holding among its own Riede.
What to Know
Steinberg is a Grinzing site, not part of the Nussberg proper: the ÖTW classification groups Vienna's Erste Lagen by hill (Bisamberg, Nussberg, Grinzing, Maurerberg) and lists Steinberg under Grinzing. The name recurs across the German-speaking wine world, so labels need reading with care: Bründlmayer sources a Kamptal Steinberg near Langenlois, the Wagram has a Ried Steinberg near Kirchberg am Wagram, and the Rheingau's walled Steinberg at Kloster Eberbach is unrelated. Wiener Gemischter Satz DAC, the category in which the Cobenzl bottling appears, has required co-planted, jointly harvested field blends since its creation in 2013.