Lieben Aich DOC 2023

A dry Sauvignon Blanc that seeks its impact through structure rather than fruit abundance. On the nose it remains strikingly disciplined: no cascades of tropical aromas, but ripe fruit, coolly grounded, underscored by a minerality reminiscent of wet chalk. At 13.0% ABV, it stays lean.

The vines grow in the Lieben Aich vineyard in Terlano, on a southwest-facing slope at 300 metres above sea level. The microclimate is mild and airy, the soil a free-draining sandy loam over weathered porphyry rock. This is where the wine's minerality takes root. 2023 was demanding: a wet spring, several heat spells spread across the year, then a golden late summer with cool nights and fully ripe grapes. Yields came in at 41 hectolitres per hectare.

100% Sauvignon Blanc. The destemmed grapes spent twelve hours macerating on the press, and fermentation happened spontaneously in oak barrels using the grapes' own yeasts. Twelve months on fine lees followed, then bottling without fining or filtration. Michael Graf Goëss-Enzenberg has run Manincor since 1991, together with estate director Helmuth Zozin; the 50 hectares in Kaltern have been farmed biodynamically since 2005.

Everything is tightly stitched together: full-bodied, defined, clearly contoured. Aromatically it proves more varietally typical here than the nose suggests, without ever becoming showy. The élevage traces fine outlines, and the arc of acidity stretches long. Three to five years of bottle age will do it good; until then, a large glass is well worth it.

Manincor's cellar is built into the hillside and works by gravity, without pumps, at constant temperatures within the cool rock. Combined with spontaneous fermentation and unfined, unfiltered bottling, this yields a wine shaped by minimal intervention and a strong sense of place.