2020 Ried Liebenberg Gruner Veltliner Smaragd

Tasted as a tank sample in June 2021 a few days before bottling, the 2020 Ried Liebenberg Dürnstein Grüner Veltliner Smaragd offers an opulent but clear and remarkably refined bouquet of elegant white fruits intertwined with flinty as well as lemon zest notes. Crystalline and vital on the palate, this is a full-bodied, round and intense but also piquant and enormously juicy Liebenberg that is very elegant and balanced, with fine mineral grip, lingering salinity and delicate, stimulating bitters. It's pretty silky for a gneiss terroir, but if this is due to a higher limestone content: who knows? 13.5% alcohol.