Notes from the vintner, Franz Josef Gritsch:
"The Singerriedel is one of the most famous set of vines in the Wachau with its extremely steep terraces. It is all handwork; no tractors are possible with these vines. We have to put the old style buckets on our backs and pick by hand. The terroir here has a lot of slate. There is no real “earthy mulch”, just sand and old rotten stone, so the roots have to travel quite deep in order to get any water or nutrients. The climate provides for very cold nights from over the hills and warm days up from the Danube, and the stony terroir reflects the sunlight, so this change in temperature every night and day is what gives this wine its specific character. This terrace structure allows for the sun to reach every vine because they don’t cast shadows on each other. This 2003 vintage was the last wine harvested this year, on November 15th. It was already 32 degrees outside: winter had begun. It has more exotic fruit notes, such as banana, than other Grüner Veltliners. Next year I will try a small amount of wines on natural yeast, but these wines are still done on added chemical yeast.”

from Food & Wine 2005 Guide: A ripe vintage brings in a bounty of mixed fruit, made more complex by lingering smoke and spice.

from WinePlus: Excellent. Delicious herbaceous nose, fine mineral notes, exotic yellow fruit, passion fruit and honeydew melon fresh figs, a hint of grained caraway seeds, white pepper and bay leaf. Again juicy fruit on the palate with slightly dry spicy notes, great structure, well-balanced and lingering. Goes well with spicy dishes like pepper steak.

I was asked on one of my other tasting notes to include the price of the bottle, so I am now doing this for all of my TN's.

This bottle retails for: $27.00