2006 Riesling Smaragd Unendlich

Lucas Pichler reported having had to sidestep or sort out a significant accumulation of botrytis in 2016 due to intermittent rain – chilly October temperatures notwithstanding. This is a phenomenon that only a few other growers have emphasized, though quite likely he is simply being more candid. “We elected to start [picking] with the Riesling,” he explained, “because the Grüner Veltliner has thicker skins and can tolerate a bit more rain without succumbing to rot. The upshot is that we got all of the Riesling picked before there was significant [October] rain, and it’s turned out to be an exceptionally fine Riesling vintage, whereas we ended up having to throw away 25% of the Grüner Veltliner that had developed stem rot.” Another factor seemingly setting apart Weingut F. X. Pichler from other growers I visited in Lower Austria is the sheer duration of picking that Lucas Pichler reported: Nine weeks! Given these just-mentioned factors, it’s no wonder that he recalled the harvest of 2016 itself with considerably less fondness than did most of his fellow growers. But its results are predictably excellent. As usual at this address, some wines are fermented in cask and then racked to tank while others ferment in tank and then spend time in cask; but regardless, Pichler tended to give them even more lees contact this year than in the past, right up until late-summer bottling. (Federspiel and generic Smaragd bottlings are the only ones raised solely in tank and bottled in springtime, as well as the only ones subjected to screwcap closure. For background on this estate and its vineyards, readers should consult the extended introductions to my reports on its 2013 and 2014 collections.)

“Even with irrigation,” said Lucas Pichler, “there was a month in the summer when the vines weren’t doing much.” He emphasized the importance of moderating the crop load so as not to aggravate vine stress, although another consequence was doubtless the present collection’s elevated alcohol levels compared not only with those of its two predecessors, but also when compared with Lucas Pichler’s long-term aspiration to significantly depress alcohol levels vis-à-vis those that prevailed at this address a decade or more ago. “But provided you achieve physiological ripeness without botrytis,” he maintained, “you preserve a sense of transparency to vineyard character,” and that is certainly evident in the present collection. “Even when the wines are rich, they need to preserve ‘juiciness’ – ‘Saftigkeit’,” added the younger Pichler, using both the English and German words. Picking in 2015 began on September 22, reflecting the aforementioned interest in achieving moderate alcohol, but it was already too late to pick Riesling at Federspiel levels even in the Burgstall, a site they intend in principle to dedicate to that weight class; only a portion of the Klostersatz Grüner Veltliner squeaked by on the cusp of Smaragd. And at the other end of harvest, a significant share of Riesling left hanging in the Loibenberg inadvertently resulted in B.A. and T.B.A. Lucas Pichler compares his top Rieslings from 2015 with those of 2013 and this is among the few instances where I would concur in such a flattering comparison. All of the wines were bottled by summer’s end, but many were still in cask or tank when I tasted them in June. There will definitely be an impressively complex 2015 Sauvignon Blanc bottling, probably two, raised entirely in barriques and demi-muids, some new, whose contents I canvassed. I’ll report on the finished wine(s) when I return to cover the 2016 vintage. (For details concerning that aspiration, along with background on this estate and its vineyards, readers should consult the extended introductions to my reports on both its 2013 and 2014 collections.)

In the course of the 1990s, F. X. Pichler achieved larger-than-life status as an iconic Wachau vintner. He also acquired a reputation for no-holds-barred aspiration to ripeness and intensity, and for the high alcohol that this often entailed. But he has always emphasized—when you can draw him into extended conversation, which has never been easy—the extent to which his accomplishments were possible only thanks to four decades of viticultural interventionism and especially Grüner Veltliner vine selection practiced by his father Franz Pichler beginning in 1928, as well as the extent to which growing seasons in the ‘90s and ‘00s, by encouraging sugar accumulation and botrytis, often forced growers to choose between high alcohol and marginal ripeness of flavor, in which case F. X. did not have to think twice. The relative roles of nature and style can, here as elsewhere, be debated endlessly.

Two things, though, are certain. First, the wines that made F. X. Pichler’s reputation routinely managed to buffer their alcohol—even if you thought insufficiently, which this taster seldom did—to a degree achieved by very few other Wachau vintners, one result of this being that in trying to imitate Pichler’s success, many growers fell on their faces, as did their wines. And the second is, in the words of F. X.’s son Lucas, that “in recent years we’ve been harvesting a little earlier in order to depress the alcohol levels a bit.” After welcoming their results in the unusually cool 2007 vintage, both Pichlers began openly discussing the issue of alcohol, and guiding their subsequent wines in the direction of moderation (moderation on the finished alcohol scale, that is; it was by no means their intention to discontinue powerful “M” bottlings or their Riesling “Unendlich,” let alone abandon fanatic determination to achieve the best possible quality.) But as 2013 demonstrates, reconciling richness and complexity with levity has not always demanded early picking. Stylistic change at this address has also brought an expanded range of Federspiel bottlings, a case in point being the decision to dedicate exclusively to Riesling in that weight class the oddly butte-like yet riverside Burgstall vineyard recently reclaimed by the family. The Pichlers have benefited since 2009 from an impressive and spacious new cellar.

Picking in 2013 commenced early, in the last days of September, in order to guarantee a good crop of Federspiel, and the results are in no way ripeness-deficient let alone suggestive of rain dilution. Predictably though, this made for a very long harvest season, since it continued, albeit with a significant October pause, until the last week of that month. While Lucas Pichler remarked on—and welcomed for his “M” and ‘Unendlich” bottlings—slight late-autumn desiccation of berries in a few locations, especially with Riesling, he pronounced his 2013 vintage botrytis-free. “I’d rather do multiple and more selective pickings to get around it,” he added. And freedom from botrytis certainly played into his hands in yielding lusciously ripe wines at modest alcohol levels, the Federspiel bottlings having finished in the low 12s and the Smaragds all under 14%, if at times barely. The Pichlers draw a comparison to their 1999 vintage.

The first time I came to the Wachau, Franz Xaver Pichler was still working in the family's heurigen, the restaurant by the river that paid the bills. That was closed years ago. Now he spends most of his time in the vineyards, allowing his son Lukas to take the helm of their estate in Loiben at the eastern end of the Wachau, where the climate is warmer. Partly for that reason, the Pichlers have made no Steinfeder, the lightest natural wine of the region, since 1996. Today, almost three-quarters of any given vintage is Smaragd. Not surprisingly, Lukas prefers cooler vintages. "Two thousand twelve was perhaps a touch too warm," he said, "but at least there was no botrytis." Riesling, he thinks, did better as a result. As the Pichlers harvest late, sometimes going through their terraces as many as five times, their wines can be monumental, a moniker that they shortened to M when the first grüner veltliner of this ilk was introduced in 1991. A similar riesling called Unendlich, or unending in English, appeared in 1998. For some purists, these wines are over the top, but as Lukas relates, "they are both to be viewed as the ultimate expression of the variety, not the site." Indeed, those who prefer elegance and balance with refreshing verve are better served with the cooler Steinertal. Fifteen years ago, however, even a Kellerberg often had only 12.5% alcohol. Today the "lightweights" carry at least one degree more. (www.fx-pichler.at) Also recommended: 2012 Gruner Veltliner Federspiel Loibner Frauenweingarten (87).

Lucas Pichler, son of F. X. Pichler and the new winemaker at the family estate, views the 2007 vintage as a classic one for the Wachau, comparable in structure to the 1999 vintage. The wines, he says, are vibrant and spicy, and possess perfectly balanced acidity and a pronounced mineral character. The foundation for this superb series of Pichler wines was extremely healthy fruit with high grape sugars.

When Mr. Pichler wears a relaxed smile at the official vintage tasting in August, one can expect great things. "I have long ceased to fret during the extended harvest period," Pichler explained. "Things always turn out differently than expected anyway. It is only important to make the best wines possible; anything else is not interesting." Through the years, "F.X." has rarely produced much Steinfeder- or Federspiel-level wine, preferring large-caliber wines sourced from late-harvested fruit. By all evidence, his son Lucas has inherited his father's talent and adopted a nearly identical style. The 2005 series here is magnificent and, as always, unique, with the best wines walking a fine line between genius and eccentric. A new wine, the Riesling Smaragd Hollerin, from a vineyard of the same name, has replaced the Terrassen Smaragd. Pichler was able to purchase this vineyard, which he previously had leased, and thus now uses a single-vineyard designation on the label. For the first time since the 2000, there is a 2005 riesling named Unendlich (infinite). Unfortunately, this moniker describes the wine's finish rather than the number of available bottles.

The principal harvest here in 2002 only began in early November and lasted until early December.In estate-typical fashion, the Pichlers were able to let gruner veltliner hang longest (and healthiest), tending to harvest riesling just a bit sooner and at the point where enough botrytis had settled in to boost the overall concentration and ripeness.The quality of their collection is once again formidable.F. X. continues to be responsible for the day-to-day vineyard work, while son Lucas has assumed responsibility in the cellar over the past several years.(Vin Divino) Also recommended: 2002 Gruner Veltliner Federspiel Klostersatz, 2002 Sauvignon Blanc Smaragd, 2002 Gruner Veltliner Smaragd Von den Terrassen.

F.X., at the top of his game, has bottled a 2000 collection that will excite even the most jaded palate. And anyone lucky enough to taste his wines from year to year will have found it hard not to be jaded. Results that combine such clarity with power are especially rare for gruner veltliner this year. But then, Pichler's mastery builds on two lifetimes of dedication to and experience with this unique variety. His father spent a lifetime painstakingly selecting, documenting, and propagating the best individual vines until he had ample, genetically diverse and wholly quality-oriented acreage. Son F.X. has spent an equally long time perfecting his winemaking technique. Gruner veltliner, Pichler proudly proclaimed, has this year achieved majority status, making up 50% of his acreage. The rest is riesling and a tiny bit of sauvignon; the old muskateller vines in the Kellerberg have been pulled. Two thousand may have been a year plagued by botrytis, "but there wasn't any here," insists Pichler, and the wines make me a believer.

With his 1998 collection, Pichler can only enhance an already legendary reputation and draw still more envious remarks about a style of wine extreme in its sheer power and intensity. There are no halbtrocken 1998 bottlings as there were in 1997, and the Smaragds ascend to dizzying-yet never stultifying-heights of alcohol. "Don't try this in your cellar" might be good if seldom-heeded advice to most of Austria vintners. But somehow, F.X. manages to bring off feats of astonishing balance that are bound to attract imitators. This applies not just to the dry wines, but to a remarkably elegant set of sweet '98s. The acid structure and high extract of the vintage are what lead Pichler to predict its slow, positive evolution.