Maria and her husband Manfred run this pocket-sized (approximately 6 hectares) estate near Spitz, in the western part of the Wachau. Her family has links to the property that go back 300 years, when it was owned by St. Peter’s Stift in Salzburg. Her great-grandfather bought it from the church in 1931 after the financial crash obliged it to cash out. She has quietly been making wines of exemplary quality at moderate prices since taking over and has achieved increasing recognition in the Austrian wine press. The vineyard practices are solidly organic : composting, eschewal of herbicides and insecticides, feromonal pest-control, and leaving alternate vineyard rows unmown. Using minimal sulphur (below 5.5 gm) is another hallmark. The wines are sleek and pure, but also show flashes of Wachau grandeur without excess. The prices are truly exceptional.