2013 Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Hochrain

Rudi Pichler assumed control of his family’s winery in 1997, and in 2004 moved to impressively designed new facilities nearby. A man of intense determination, methodical craftsmanship, and strong though well-tempered opinions, Pichler endorses harvesting late enough to, as he believes, capture the most complete possible set of flavors, and his wines typically ferment to nearly absolute dryness. If that combination makes for elevated alcohol levels, not only does he take this in stride but his wines seem uncannily able to do so as well, no doubt in part due to the buffering influences of lees exposure and sheer extract. Pre-fermentation skin contact is de rigueur and is often measured in days rather than hours, which is conducive to producing wines of tactile grip. In 2012, Pichler experimented very successfully with foot-treading rather than conventional crushing of the newly harvested grapes. Bottling usually takes place by May.

Pichler’s southwest-exposed corner in Achleiten, the source of his most striking wines, is microclimatically and in its utter absence of active lime quite distinct from those that inform other well-known bottlings from this great site. And it will soon, following Pichler’s purchase “as a 50th-birthday present to myself,” be extended into a remarkably rocky and largely long-ago-abandoned sector whose potential quality Pichler’s grandfather had already pointed out to him.

“These are classical Grüner Veltliners of a sort we haven’t had in a long time,” remarked Pichler of his 2013s, citing their moderate alcohol (meaning for him generally under 14%), vibrant acidity, and intriguing diversity of herbal, vegetable, fruit and mineral characteristics. “The extremes of the vintage [meaning heat and drought bracketed by high precipitation and chill] managed to balance themselves out,” he concluded. Harvest began here already in early October, but continued into the second week of November; and high-elevation grapes for Riesling Federspiel were, amazingly, the last to be picked, so gradual had been their phenolic maturation.

The last couple times I have seen Rudi Pichler, the first words on his lips were about the Achleiten site in Weissenkirchen. Two years ago, he was able to purchase a small parcel of Riesling with 70-year-old vines. Recently, he leased an even older neighboring block of Grüner Veltliner. Together, these two new arrows in his quiver have given this estate, which has long been one of my favorite smaller producers in the Wachau, a strike force beyond the Hochrain and Kollmütz vineyards that were long his best.

While the long, cold winter and berry shatter at flowering limited his yields in 2013, he is understandably pleased with the quality. Given the lively acidity levels of his grapes, he reduced the duration of his cold soaks, but all of the Smaragds were crushed by foot--a practice not often seen in Austria--in order to have better extraction with less bitterness. While Pichler says that the 2013 Rieslings were difficult at the outset, they were showing beautifully when I tasted them in February.

“I am still not sure if 2013 is a better vintage for Riesling or Grüner Veltliner,” he told me, “but both will age gracefully.” I rate these bone-dry wines highly but they need time.