2015 Grüner Veltliner Goldjoch

Roman Pfaffl was the Weinviertel’s first – and remains the region’s only – superstar. From an obscurity shared with every other Weinviertel vintner of the early 1990s, Pfaffl rose to notoriety within a decade by offering a colorful range of bold, ambitious, scrupulously executed wines at a time when the sole world-class grower with an international audience working in immediately adjacent Vienna (from which Pfaffl also draws a small share of his fruit) was Fritz Wieninger. Certainly it helped that the Pfaffls are some of the nicest people and most generous with their time for tasters that one could hope to meet, and set an inspiring example of family collaboration. Their reds tend toward unapologetic tannic extraction and overt oakiness; their Grüner Veltliner toward lushness and imposingly rich fruit; and their other whites represent a very mixed stylistic bag. Don’t look for half-hidden nooks and crannies or for understatement and nuance in these wines. You will have gathered that although I am in awe of this family’s success, I don’t completely share the rapturous press reception that their wines so often enjoy. Still, I failed my readers and the Pfaffls by having neglected to taste and report on their collections for my first two Vinous Austrian reports. I met with Roman Josef Pfaffl – who now takes the lead in vinification while his father continues to manage the vineyards – at the 2016 VieVinum. The styles that put this winery on the map continue to prevail. Young Pfaffl reports that on most of his family’s relatively deep-soiled sites, the vines managed to make it through the heat and drought of summer 2015 stress-free on the strength of winter water build-up. Picking began in late September and was largely completed within a month (though see my review of the late-harvested Riesling called Passion).