2014 Riesling Hochäcker

Martin Nigl began picking at the beginning of October and finished in mid-November. The wines don't taste as though the grapes needed more hang time. And the levity characteristic of Nigl's amazing 2013 collection is present in spades this year, happily accompanied in most instances by admirable animation and clarity, even allowing for some lots having undergone malolactic conversion. In only a few instances, though, did I perceive anything approaching the depth, rivetingly dynamic complexity or sheer grip that rendered those 2013s so memorable. Even before deciding to permit some malolactic activity and then blend those lots with ones where it did not take place, Nigl adjusted a few of his highest-acid 2014 musts to arrive at pH levels supportive of his bacterial helpmates. But as picking continued, he says, acid levels in some Grüner Veltliner parcels reached a rather sudden dropping point, and in those instances the finished wines could actually have used a bit more. As at most (though by no means all) Krems-area sites this year, Nigl reports that Riesling was more susceptible to rot than was Grüner Veltliner. As one indication of vintage stringency, this year’s Gärtling bottling ended up accounting for 20% of total production, and declassified material from various sites boosted the Freiheit to a further 15% share. There were none of the small supplemental Grüner Veltliner bottlings that Nigl rendered from 2013, including no “Herzstück vom Kirchenberg.”