Ried Steinertal is een van de afzonderlijke wijngaarden van F.X. Pichler in de Wachau-regio waar de droge wijn Grüner Veltliner Smaragd wordt geproduceerd; de jaargang 2022 is gemaakt van druiven die zijn geteeld in diepere bovengrond boven verweerd gneis. De neus biedt aroma’s van verse kruiden en varens, terwijl de zuivere, medium-bodied smaak in de mond een minerale toets en een zoute afdronk achterlaat. De wijn voelt soepel en stevig aan in plaats van zwaar. De afdronk is droog, verfijnd en uitzonderlijk lang.
Het groeiseizoen van 2022 werd gekenmerkt door koel, regenachtig weer en een langdurige bloeiperiode in juni. Ook tijdens de vroege fase van de oogst, die half september begon, viel er regen, en tijdens het sorteerproces in de wijngaard ging ongeveer 15% van de totale opbrengst van de wijngaard verloren ten opzichte van het langetermijngemiddelde. Alleen de overgebleven druiven werden geselecteerd voor deze wijn.
Alle Grüner Veltliner wordt hier ontsteeld en gefermenteerd in roestvrijstalen tanks. De single-vineyard-wijn rijpt vervolgens 6 tot 8 maanden op fijne droesem in grote, gebruikte eikenhouten vaten, wat textuur toevoegt zonder eikenaroma’s door te geven.
Lucas Pichler (7e generatie) is sinds 2000 de enige wijnmaker bij F.X. Pichler, dat in 1971 de naam F.X. Pichler aannam. De druiven worden biologisch geteeld en deze wijn is veganistisch. Het wijnhuis betrekt druiven van zijn eigen wijngaard van 18,5 hectare en nog eens 1,5 hectare.
Het best te drinken tussen 2024 en 2044.
James Suckling (97)
Incredible herbal freshness in the nose with notes ranging from sage to tarragon plus a hint of ferns and moss after rain. Extraordinary precision and purity on the medium-bodied palate. Great wet stone purity and racy tension at the super-long finish that must be experienced to be believed. It’s miraculous that a gruner veltliner with just 12.5% alcohol can have this concentration and brilliance. From organically grown grapes. Vegan.
Vinous (95)
The 2022 Grüner Veltliner Steinertal is from Pichler's coolest site, on terraces with deeper top-soils above weathered gneiss—thus with more water-holding capacity. As the Steinertal is a gully, cool winds sweep down at night and provide diurnal range. The nose is alive with herbal savoriness, referencing chervil, crushed yarrow and fern. The palate carries these herbal notions and adds both ripe pear tones and slight saltiness on a textured, yeasty, distinctly peppery body. This is beautifully clear, clean-cut and svelte, with a lovely boost of pepper on the finish. (Bone-dry)
Lucas Pichler is the seventh generation of his family to head this estate, which was named F.X. Pichler in 1971 when his father, Franz Xaver Pichler, took over. Lucas Pichler joined his parental estate in 1998, after finishing viticultural college in Krems and training with Müller-Catoir in the Pfalz and Manfred Tement in Styria. He worked alongside his father until 2000, when he became sole cellarmaster. He began farming organically in 2016; the conversion to organic certification started in 2020 and the estate has been certified organic since 2023. Pichler farms 18.5 hectares and buys fruit from another 1.5 hectares, also certified organic. The varietal split is 60% Grüner Veltliner and 40% Riesling, with just a little Gelber Muskateller in two parcels in the Loibenberg—which is now mainly made into grape juice and marketed to top restaurants. Until 2019, there was also Sauvignon Blanc, but that’s now discontinued. All Grüner Veltliner is destemmed and fermented in stainless steel. The village wines stay in stainless steel, while the single-site wines are aged on fine lees in large used barrel for six to eight months. Riesling is mostly whole-bunch-pressed after slight crushing and followed by three to six hours of skin contact, depending on site and vintage. No sulfur dioxide is added before fermentation, and botrytis is absolutely avoided. The only wine, both fermented and aged in wood, is the Grüner Veltliner Unendlichbut. Pichler provides a useful shorthand: all screw-capped wines are made in stainless steel only, and the wines that saw wood have cork closures. The “Monumental” or “M” wines are no longer produced, as they were, according to Pichler, “no longer in keeping with the style” –which is crystalline, linear, taut, and focused on translucency, drive, and elegance. The Unendlich wines are only made in the ripest years. Pichler looks for site expression and the maximum of varietal expression in a dry wine.
Pichler notes that rain in the early stages of the 2022 harvest, which started in mid-September, was “challenging.” Sorting was crucial and resulted in about 15% loss of fruit compared to the long-term average. During my visit, I tasted the 2022 Rieslings and Grüner Veltliners, plus the 2021 vintages of each variety’s Unendlich bottling. No Unendlich was made in 2022.
BOW (9-)
