2009 F.X. Pichler Riesling Kellerberg Trockenbeerenauslese 375ml

F.X. Pichler

Austria / Wachau / F.X. Pichler

There is an international consensus that Kellerberg is the absolute model vineyard. This vertiginous, barren and purist primitive-rock terrace, which is exposed from south to south-east and located at the exit of a side valley, creates a very special microclimate. The Kellerberg vineyard is already pampered by the sun early in the morning. During night, cool air streaming in from the bordering woods fosters the development of the complex texture and delicately nuanced, usually exotic aromas and flavors typical of this wine. In fall, large temperature differences between day and night shape the grapes. Honey melon, mango, passion fruit, banana and fully ripe peach, concise minerally notes as a dowry of the meager, weathered soil, and the extremely deeply rooting old vines make the wines of this site unparalleled and outstanding. We are fascinated about the wines from Kellerberg due to their filigree elegance, which can hardly be expressed in words.

David Schildknecht

Wine Advocate

96 points

The Pichlers’ 2009 Riesling Kellerberg Trockenbeerenauslese had not finished fermenting when I visited the estate in June last year, but tasted from bottle this June it gave a terrific account of itself. Candied pink grapefruit and orange rinds; pear nectar; quince and apricot preserves, are all wreathed in peat-like smoke and musky floral perfume; tinged with caramel; and accented by pepper in a manner familiar from this site, here with reciprocal reinforcement by botrytis spice. For a wine of such sheer intensity of flavor and creamy richness of texture, this shows an impressive command of flavor detail – spice, citrus zest, and saline, alkaline, smoky mineral counterpoint – as well as displaying uncanny buoyancy and refreshment. The 350 (!) grams of residual sugar in no way translate into cloying or tedium: on the contrary, sheer sweetness is far from one’s mind while being dazzled by this performance. Nor do the wine’s theoretically German Eiswein-like 17 grams of acidity come off as sharp. That’s balance! There are only 450 liters of this nectarous essence of Kellerberg, all in half bottles.

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About F.X. Pichler

"Everything here seems stylish, cultured and intelligently managed," wrote Sophie Otton of her recent visit to FX Pichler - which is, she notes, "widely regarded as Austria's finest estate". "Most of the wines here are Smaragd, which indicates the quality of their vineyard sites," Sophie observes. "Looking down the hillside to the Danube, it's obvious, the aspect is perfect. The wines are striking, like cut crystal, with strong clear lines; succulent, satiny and honeyed." The new winery, completed in 2010, is a stunning piece of design, with an imposing bank of stainless steel vats, side by side with the old oak foudres that are used for aging but not fermentation. The Pichlers use long maceration times – 20 hours for the Smaragds - and bottle direct from cask after eight months or so aging on lees. These exceptional wines have every inch of the finesse of Prager, but communicated through a slightly more open, loose- knit framework.

About

In 1971, Lucas Pichler’s father Franz-Xaver started running the estate, and would go on 41 years later to win a lifetime achievement award for his efforts from German magazine Der Feinschmecker. 1999 was the year that Lucas took over winemaking duties from his father, who continues to tend the vines. FX Pichler’s vineyards comprise some 18 hectares, of which around 47% are planted to Riesling (the rest is almost entirely Grüner Veltliner). A fraction less than half the area under vine sprawls across steeply rising terraces. This winemaking process presupposes multi-pass manual picking of premium-quality, highly ripe grapes followed by careful processing and traditional maturation in large oak casks. Lucas aims for naturalness and distinctiveness by forgoing chaptalisation and fining.