2014 Gruner Veltliner Smaragd Kellerberg

The only wines missing in 2014 from the usual F. X. lineup are Grüner Veltliner Urgestein Terrassen (for lack of enough crop volume to merit a generic Smaragd), two “M”s, and Riesling Unendlich. The overall percentage of Smaragd by volume, like this collection’s aggregate quality, is remarkably high by vintage standards, especially when it comes to Riesling. “But because we waited so long to harvest,” relates Lucas Pichler, “we ended up with only 40% of a normal harvest overall. And from Frauenweingarten and Klostersatz along the Danube, we cut more fruit to the ground on account of its not being physiologically ripe enough for Federspiel than we did later in some of our terraces on account of rot. We had to divide most clusters in order to eliminate botrytis because it wasn’t the familiar situation where some clusters are tainted but others are entirely healthy.” Anyone who thinks that “botrytis is your friend” or “bigger is better” are Wachau mantras is out of touch and should attend to some further comments from Lucas Pichler that apply beyond the vintage at hand: “Better a slightly lighter wine because botrytis-free than a heavy wine on account of botrytis. The elegance you gain allows for a lovelier expression of the differences between sites and renders the soil or terroir much more tasteable, more with Riesling than with Veltliner. I think the era of 14% or 15% alcohol is past—for consumers too. You notice something similar in the realm of gastronomy. The trend is away from exaggeration and toward frankness and wholesomeness [Bodenständigkeit und Bekömmlichkeit].” When I arrived for my late spring visit and an extremely insightful tasting of the 2014 Smaragd from tank or cask, I found the team here cleaning up from an encouraging round of new plantings, involving three additional terraces in Kellerberg with Riesling as well as relatively flat acreage between Loiben and Dürnstein for additional Grüner Veltliner Federspiel. (I returned in September to taste the entire 2014 collection after what was for most wines a July or early August bottling.)

I can’t resist narrating a fascinating experience with this year’s Kellerberg Riesling. The vines for each of two pre-bottling lots held in comparable casks differed considerably in age, but represented essentially identical vine selections, since cuttings from the older ones had been the source of the younger ones. And since the Pichlers’ Kellerberg Riesling terraces, more than 40 of them, alternate older and younger plantings, significant terroir differences between the two ages of vine are essentially ruled out. But the two differed dramatically in aroma and taste. The lot from old vines, reflecting relatively early ripeness and botrytis-free picking, was subtly smoky up front, lean mid-palate, then penetratingly peppery and zesty; that from much younger vines picked up to the end of November delivered tropicality that reflected light desiccation. As my tasting note testifies, the marriage of these two proved seductively synergistic.