Alzinger Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Steinertal 2015

Ripe honeydew and turnip earthiness lead the nose, with green herb pungency and an ashen, almost cyanic mineral edge that gives the wine a stern character. On the palate it's full and generous, mouth-coating texture with stony, alkaline notes threading through a finish of real length. What holds it back from the estate's top tier is a certain diffuseness: the salinity, focus, and primary snap that distinguish Alzinger's finest Smaragd bottlings are absent here. Alzinger attributed this to an early harvest that still captured notable botrytis, which explains the ripe weight without the usual precision. Good, but not quite the Steinertal we know.