Steinfeder, the lightest in terms of must weight and alcohol among the trio of dry white wine categories in austria’s wachau region—specifically for unchaptalized grapes of 73 to 83 °oechsle (15 to 17 °kmw) which result in wines with no more than 11% alcohol. Consumers have been willing to pay much higher prices for the fuller-bodied wines of the other categories federspiel and smaragd, and it can be difficult to achieve attractive flavours in Wachau grapes at such low levels of potential alcohol. So Steinfeder wines today, however charming and refreshing, tend to be made only from a few comparatively cool sites or ones considered otherwise expendable, from Grüner Veltliner, and solely for local consumption. The name comes from a feathery grass species indigenous to the local vineyard terraces.
