Günther Steinmetz Riesling Dhroner Hofberg GD 2018

Muskmelon, orange zest, smoke, and crushed stone open the nose with real presence. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied and subtly viscous, around 13.5% alcohol, with a dense, almost opaque texture layered with stone and smoke throughout. Roughly 20 grams of residual sugar barely registers as sweetness; instead it adds flesh without tipping into anything overtly off-dry. The finish is long and piquant, with zesty, smoky persistence and only the gentlest trace of alcoholic warmth. Steinmetz picked this among his earliest dry wines that year, yet the must weight was already elevated and acidity relatively restrained, a paradox that shapes the wine's unusual, concentrated character.