2018 Rudi Pichler Riesling Smaragd Achleithen, Wachau

A very fresh and complex nose with mountain herbs, flint, wildflowers, white pepper and a gently spicy edge, too. The palate has a succulent feel with such juicy and concentrated stone-fruit flavors. Depth of flavor and elegant structure. Drink or hold.

96 points jamessuckling.com

The 2018 Ried Achleiten Riesling Smaragd shows some acid aromas on the first nose, which is irritating me, like all the 2018s Rieslings here. Once you get used to it, the nose is then clear, fine and elegant, even stony, coolish and flinty. On the palate, this is a lush and round, textured and charming Riesling with ripe and elegant acidity and lingering mineral grip on the finish. Tasted at the domain in September 2019.

Rudi Pichler is quite proud of his 2018 series. He finds his wines "very rested and elegant but also structured" and further describes them as "calm yet expressive." He finds them "already tasting good and not only in a few years' time." His Smaragd wines are all between 13% and 14% alcohol, the Reserve is at 15% alcohol. The flowering was already finished on 25 May, so it was unbelievably early. "In the past, people used to hope for a great vintage when half of the vines had bloomed by solstice; today, however, all the plants are already completely finished with flowering four weeks before." The flowering is followed by at least 90 days of ripening, adds Pichler, whereas for the Smaragd wines, it is 10-20 days more, especially in the old vineyards. So are the wines getting better and better? "It's much more important how elegance can be preserved in such early, hot vintages," Pichler explains. The canopy management is very important. "What the grapes need today is shade, shade and more shade! So, we leave everything that gives shade in the leaf walls. Yields must not be too high, because quantity does not guarantee safety, especially since the vines stop working when it's hot." The 2018 harvest began at Pichler on 22 August at 5 a.m. with the grapes for the Federspiel category—earlier than ever before. In the early afternoon, the harvest stopped because it was getting too hot. The problem in 2018 were the earwigs, says Pichler. "Those spoil the taste and make the wine bitter. We took out about 400 earwigs per 300-kilogram box and had each box emptied three times before we even halved the grapes." In order to keep the wines from become too heavy, Pichler has meticulously selected them. The "negative" selection of dried and partly botrytized grapes for the Grüner Veltliner Smaragd from the Achleiten resulted in a TBA, which was harvested at 34° KMW (Klosterneuburger Mostwaage, the Austrian scale for measuring must weight). Picking only for potential alcohol was of no use in 2018, says Pichler. "One had to wait until the taste was intense, but you can't do that with high yields, because the vines simply can't bear these loads in a dry year. Even now, in September 2019, the berries still have no taste despite 19° KMW. Therefore, we will have to wait and probably make a selection again in the end." Another problem in 2018 was having enough harvest workers at such an early stage. In August, they were still busy in a completely different way, and Pichler says he was "happy to welcome anyone who could come so early." The harvest quantity was average in 2018, with Pichler getting 63,000 liters from 15 hectares. "But a good harvest is more likely to be between 75,000 and 80,000 liters." The maceration time was shortened slightly for the Federspiels and amounted to three hours. Nothing was destemmed; instead, the skins were burst open with the feet in order not to get too phenolic wines. Pichler believes that trotting the mash by feet is the most gentle and elegant method. The rain at the beginning of September led to rot in all sites not ventilated by the wind and those on deeper soils, especially in the Riesling, and to corresponding negative selections. The harvest ended on 31 October. The Reserve was harvested by the family only in November. The 2018 vintage has mainly grown Smaragd wines in the terraces, as well as only one Federspiel per variety, which, however, is marketed without a site. Nevertheless, these are also serious wines, which are made from grapes from the pre-harvest of 22 plots in top sites. "Our program is comparatively tight," says Pichler, who ferments all his wines in stainless steel tanks; the wines may achieve structure through maceration but not through the use of wooden vats. At the end of fermentation, the wines are rapidly racked. The Federspiel wines are bottled between March and June, the Smaragds partly at the end of April, large bottles, however, only in September. Although Pichler has made his reputation with Riesling, I find his Grüner Veltliners more exciting in 2018, namely the fantastic Achleithen Smaragd and the fabulous TBA from the same vineyard. Also, Roter Veltliner and the Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc) from the Ried Kollmütz are shining.