Weingut Knoll, Grüner Veltliner, Loibner

Austria’s Wachau appellation is the most notable and acclaimed region of Austria and is best represented under the guidance of producers like Knoll. About an hour northwest of Vienna along the Danube River, the vista of the steep, terraced vineyards of the Wachau creates a magnificent landscape akin to a green, ancient amphitheater. Emmerich Knoll’s 15 hectares rest around the village of Unterloiben, which is considered one of the top areas in all of the region. It is the unique soil in this pocket of Wachau the lends to the incredible minerality of the wine. The predominate soil is löess with a touch of decomposed granite. The löess soil is a granular particulate that clumps together in your hand like a baseball then turns to a sandy-like texture when it is squeezed. This soil is actually a millennia in the making—the belt of periglacial löess in the Wachau was deposited in this particular sweet spot during the Pleistocene epoch from Scandinavian ice sheets. The outcroppings of this u