2023 Gritsch-Mauritiushof Kirchpoint Grüner Veltliner Federspiel Wachau 750 ml

To call some of Franz-Josef Gritsch’s vineyards steep is an understatement.

They look like a giant carved a stepladder into the face of a cliff, with terraced rows that plunge towards the Danube River below—and Gritsch’s Kirchpoint Grüner Veltliner captures the dynamism and audacity of those slopes with every sip.

Made from his family’s oldest vines, in a year that’s gaining acclaim as a once-in-a-generation vintage, the 2023 displays a pinpoint refinement and dramatic tension between minerality and fruit that’s more commonly found in $100 Chablis than many of the wines at its price. It caused our VP of Wine, Eduardo Dingler, to declare it “my personal favorite Grüner, vintage after vintage.” 

The Gritsch family has been cultivating vines since 1799. Today, Franz-Josef Gritsch is the latest in his line to craft unforgettable wines from the steeply sloped, terraced vineyards that climb from the Danube. He’s the seventh generation in his family to make wine from the slopes of the Wachau, and he’s committed to push quality as much as he can—leading the Vinea Wachau association of winemakers to call Gritsch “one of the most forward-thinking wine estates in the Wachau.”

His 2023 Kirchpoint Grüner is bright and refreshing enough to drink on its own but absolutely shines at the dinner table. Pair it with parsnips, artichokes, or Japanese sweet potatoes—but it’s also perfect to pop while roasting a weeknight chicken. 

The grapes in this shimmering white were handpicked and fermented solely in stainless steel. Picked, pressed, and bottled in the simplest way possible, this is low-intervention winemaking at its finest, a stunning white that will shine whenever you pour it.