2000 Riesling Smaragd Unendlich

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.