Austria: All Along the Danube River – The Great 2019 Vintage and First Heralds of the 2020 Vintage
The cooler 2020 vintage suited their intended wine style, bringing them complex grapes without high sugar ripeness but with tight acidity and characteristic tartness in a very elaborate harvest (17 days in September and 12 in October). Only 9,000 bottles were filled, and in 2019 there were still 12,000 bottles. The wines of the Grabenwerkstatt are tight, very mineral and cool, almost ascetic, especially in the 2020 vintage. The fact that they are among the most expensive in the region does not speak against them—it shows the ambitions of the duo as well as their self-confidence after years of apprenticeship with renowned wineries such as Dr. Deinhard, Domäne Wachau, Bürklin-Wolf, Akarua, Felton Road, Josef & Georg Högl and Hirtzberger.