Rainer Wess > Wachau

Rainer Wess founded his own winery in 2003 after many years of diverse experience in the wine trade in both his native Austria and internationally. For example, he was the European sales manager for Mondavi and later the wine maker at a large Wachau winery.

From the beginning, Wess’s goal was to produce Grüner Veltliner and Riesling wines that would not only be among the best of the Wachau Valley, but also express his very personal style and philosophy. Rainer Wess’ deep knowledge of the Wachu region and its wine growers enabled him to identify the finest grapes from choicest sites available for purchase at harvest in 2003 and resulted in the immediate success of his project. More sites and grape-sources were added in 2004.

Rainer Wess aims to produce the purest, freshest and most elegant wines possible, with clear expressions of the varietal and site. To this end, he works with only healthy, non- botrytis-effected grapes. The uniquely versatile, accessible and enjoyable quality of Wachauer Gruners and Rieslings is the hallmark of the Wess cellar.

Today the winery has an outstanding reputation for quality and value and the wines are exported to more than 20 countries.

Viticulture in the Wachau

The Wachau region is located in the Danube Valley, west of Vienna, in the heartland of Lower Austria. It is one of the oldest wine regions of Europe. Stone terraces rising up from the Danube into the region’s ancient, fortified hills typify the landscape. The Wachau’s viticultural history, the native cuisine, the richness in flora and fauna, and its customs and cultural treasures – including its aromatic, vivacious wines -- make the area unique in the world.

The narrow Wachau valley, with its steep ascending vineyard slopes along the Danube, is only 33 kilometres long; the wine district, whose name is protected by law, is only 15 kilometres long. It is the westernmost (and therefore the coolest and highest) wine region of Austria. The tradition of the area is to cultivate Gruner Veltliner and Riesling vines on the same soils across the vineyards.

The Benedictine monastery at Melk is the gateway to the Wachau region to the west. To the east, the 1000-year-old town of Krems marks the limit of the region.

Vinification

As harvest approaches, usually by early October and running through November, Wess ensures that the grapes have an optimal balance of physiological ripeness and acidity, with no botrytis. The fruit is picked by hand and brought to the winery in small plastic crates. Wess vinifies in small batches to ensure full control over the process and the full, individual expression of each varietal and site.

Skin maceration occurs over the several hours during which the press is filled. The clusters are very gently pressed in their intact state using a pneumatic press. This procedure ensures that the grapes are protected from oxidization and the juice is as pure as possible before the start of fermentation, without any extraction of green flavors from the stems. After pressing, the juice is allowed to clarify naturally in 300 litre stainless steel fermentation tanks. The alcoholic fermentation process begins within a day (or later, towards the end of the harvest period when then the temperature has dropped). Wess ferments at between 18 – 22 degrees centigrade to ensure elegance and depth of aroma and flavor. Fermentation can run from 10 days to 2 months, depending on factors including the vintage, ambient temperature, and the particular wine being made. When the alcoholic fermentation is complete, Wess racks the wine off its gross lees; this is the only racking that is performed. He then allows the wines to rest on their fine lees – thereby enhancing their complexity and richness -- until bottling in the Spring after harvest.

Rainer Wess Website

Grüner Veltliner Niederosterreich

Gruner Veltliner grapes were sourced in vineyards surrounding Krems and picked mid to end of September. Because of different soils (mainly löss, a chalky loam and silt with good capacity for storing humidity and warmth) and slightly warmer microclimate, it’s much softer than the primary rock dominated Wachau wines. The GV has a fruity and fresh nose, almost silky texture with soft acidity – making for an uncomplicated and thoroughly enjoyable GV experience!

Grüner Veltliner Wachauer

The grapes for the Wachauer wines originate from flat sites in the towns of Unterloiben and Dürnstein. Here the alluvial soil is covered with some loess (windblown silt, clay and sand) layers. The grapes ripen early and are the first to be picked. These factors account for the aromatic, zesty, forward and uncomplicated character of Wachauer Grüner Veltliner and Rieslings. The wines have ample "cool" fruit in their bouquets and expressive citrus and stone fruits on the palate. The finishes are long and crisp.

Grüner Veltliner Terrassen

“Terrassen” translates as terraced. The grapes for these bottlings come from several terraced Wachau sites, which are so typical of the region. Rainer Wess aims to merge the various microclimates to create a wine as complex and versatile as possible. The Terrassens have richer, chewier fruit but with firmer acidity, more mineral structure, and better aging potential than the first-level Wachauer wines. The Terrassens are the best values in the line, as they have almost the same level of complexity and depth of the top bottlings, yet they are immediately accessible.

Parker: “features green bean, snap peas, and peaches. With a full, glossy-textured palate, underlain by notes of coffee and nut oils, it finishes with impressive length, rich fruit, and attractive piquancy.”

Grüner Veltliner Loibenberg

The Loibenberg is one of the "great" wine districts of the Wachau. Wines from the Loibenberg vineyard have a distinct personality and character due to the combination of a cool microclimate and long hang time before harvest. The vineyard reaches up to 450 meters of altitude and has an ideal south to southeast exposure. The vines are planted on weathered, poor soil with layers of loess and clay and .sedimented primary rocks with, above all, gneiss of Gföhl as dominating rock. This soil together with the sometimes steep terraces facing south produce wines with "personality" and character. The Loibenberg wines display refined fruit, intense mineral structure, and powerful body. Their overall character can be summed up in one word – density.

Parker: “ smells alluringly and site-typically of white peach, white pepper, snap pea, and iris. Silken in texture and with admirable richness, this refined Veltliner finishes with piquant, bitter, sizzling accents of toasted nuts, peach kernel and white pepper.”

Riesling Wachauer

The grapes pressed for this wine come mainly from the so-called "Spitzer Graben", more exactly, from the Viesslinger Ried Bruck. Plenty of "cool" fruit in its bouquet, finesse, and the mineral nuances of this domain make it unique. A light and easy Riesling.

Riesling Terrassen

Parker: “Given the high quality of his basic bottling, Wess’s 2007 Riesling Terrassen had a hard act to follow, but it incorporates fruit from Lobenberg and Hollerin to good effect. Peach, lemon and almond on the nose also inform a nutty, subtly oily palate whose richness and extract make for an impression of slight sweetness. This sleek, refined Riesling finishes long on refreshment and with more than enough nuance to keep it fascinating for several years.”

WINE SPECTATOR: “If you are looking for a good introduction to the Wachau’s whites without emptying your wallet, try those that carry the terrassen designation. This signifies wines blended from multiple vineyard sources. One release with an impressive quality-to-price ratio is the rich, smoky…Wess Terrassen…showing baked peach, apricot and vanilla flavors.”

Riesling Pfaffenberg

Subtlety and strong elegance are the features of this wine. In its early times rather occlusive, this wine will show its true greatness in a few months time only. Even after a few years of storage it will prove its great potential.

Some of the grapes for Wess’s Pfaffenberg wines come from plantings located in Kremstal, even though they are situated right next to Loibenberg. The rest are from Wachau vineyards that almost reach the Danube. The soils are mostly sandy clay with underlying primary gneiss rock. The warm, south-east exposition provide the wines with enough fruit to make them accessible, but Pfaffenberg's steeply terraced rocky plantings dominate the wine. The Pffafenberg Gruners and Rieslings are truly mineral driven powerhouses that would benefit from a year or two of aging with the potential to develop over the next 5 to 10 years.

Parker: “The Wess 2007 Riesling Pfaffenberg brims with ripe peach and plum, tinged with nut oils, malt, and vanilla. Rich and creamy on the palate, cool and soothing (as if cucumber were blended in), yet with shimmering fresh fruit brightness and mineral glint, it finishes long, refreshing, and bitter-sweet.”

Riesling Achleiten

The grand-cru-like Achleiten vineyard is located on a steep hillside on the western end of the Wachau region, on the Northern bank of the Danube. Viticulture here dates back to the 12th century. Its superb micro-climate is created by the rocky soil, the vineyard’s ideal south-east exposure and the sunlight-reflecting Danube river. The hallmark of Wachau – the interplay between cooling winds and heat reflected from the river – reaches its pinnacle in the Achleiten, where some of the area’s richest and most intense wines are produced. The soil is primarily granite, with some schist, which adds a counterbalancing mineral lift to the wine’s body. Rainer Wess vinifies a parcel of 50 year old Riesling vines planted in the exact middle of the Achleiten site, (that is, in its warmest and best drained part) that give him about 60 cases yearly. It is made from 100% healthty (ie, non botrytised) fruit and aged in stainless steel on its lees until bottling in June without malolactic fermentation. Wess’s 2008 Riesling Achleiten shows a beautiful interplay of subtle and pure tropical fruit flavors, substantial body and extract, and elegant minerality and fruity acidity. It is rated 90-93 by Peter Moser in his Falstaff Ultimate Austrian Wine Guide, 2009-2010 edition (p. 155), who notes that Wess’s “style has remained consistent from the first day through the current 2008 vintage."

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