Rudi Pichler Smaragd Achleithen Gruner Vetliner 2021

  • 98 James
    Suckling
  • 93 Robert
    Parker
2022 Vintage In Stock
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Rudi Pichler Smaragd Achleithen Gruner Vetliner 2021  Front Bottle Shot
Rudi Pichler Smaragd Achleithen Gruner Vetliner 2021  Front Bottle Shot Rudi Pichler Smaragd Achleithen Gruner Vetliner 2021  Front Label

Product Details


Varietal

Region

Producer

Vintage
2021

Size
750ML

ABV
13.5%

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Somm Note

Winemaker Notes

Grüner Veltliner is the signature grape of Austria and produces a dry white wine with savory aromas, spicy flavors, and good acidity. Grüner Veltliner Smaragd from the Wachau is a full-bodied wine and is rich in style with notes of stone fruit, lemon, radish, and arugula.

Professional Ratings

  • 98
    Very complex, youthful nose with a huge spectrum of aromas, ranging from crisp pear and spring blossoms to a whole garden of herbs. Extremely elegant and silky, this great Wachau gruner veltliner has underplayed power, the wine gliding over the palate into the extremely subtle crushed-rock finish that takes your breath away.
  • 93
    Pichler's Weissenkrichen 2021 Ried Achleithen Grüner Veltliner Smaragd opens with very clear, elegant, finely spicy and stony, only delicately phenolic fruit. Dense, rich and quite substantial on the palate, this is a powerful, firm, somewhat bitter and outwardly solid GV from the Achleithen. It has firm tannins and an intense, powerful but not (yet) particularly persistent finish.
    Rating: 93+

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Rudi Pichler

Rudi Pichler

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Rudi Pichler, Other Europe
Rudi Pichler Rudi Pichler Vineyard Winery Image

Rudi Pichler is among the elite growers of the Wachau producing wines of precision, power, and longevity. The cellar is based in the village of Wösendorf where generations of Pichlers have tended vines since 1731. Rudolph Pichler, III took over the winery in 1997 and has since expanded the vineyards and constructed a modern cellar in 2004. Grüner Veltliner and Riesling make up 95% of the production with the remaining 5% shared between Weißburgunder and Roter Veltliner. Rudi Pichler belongs to the prestigious Vinea Wachau and vinifies under the strict parameters of their codex. He was awarded Falstaff’s Vintner of the Year in 2010. Weingut Rudi Pichler consists of 37 acres spread between Wösendorf, Joching, Weißenkirchen, and Mautern. Wösendorf and Joching lie in the heart of the Wachau Valley where south-facing terraces look down at the Danube River. Here, rieden such as Kirchweg, Hochrain, and Kollmütz are marked by occasional deposits of loess over base rock. Rudi produces crystal-clear expressions of Grüner Veltliner, Riesling, and Weißburgunder from these sites. Directly east of Joching is Weißenkirchen, home to the famous rieden of Steinriegl and Achleithen, two distinctive Riesling sites with calcareous and weathered gneiss, respectively. Rudi also maintains a small vineyard of Roter Veltliner across the river in Mautern. “I’m a wine caretaker not a winemaker,” is Rudi’s credo, placing the intensity of work in the vineyards at the foundation of his philosophy. Rudi wants vineyard and varietal expression to be as clear as possible so yields are kept low between 30 and 35 hectoliters per hectare with harvest and botrytis carefully removed by hand. Grapes are crushed by foot and receive between three and 36 hours of maceration on the skins depending on the vintage and style. “The skin has information about the specific place where it is from,” says Rudi. Vinification is entirely in stainless-steel tanks and malolactic fermentation is avoided. The resulting wines are pure, dense, and taut with energy.

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Fun to say and delightfully easy to drink, Grüner Veltliner calls Austria its homeland. While some easily quaffable Grüners come in a one-liter—a convenient size—many high caliber single vineyard bottlings can benefit from cellar aging. Somm Secret—About 75% of the world’s Grüner Veltliner comes from Austria but the variety is gaining ground in other countries, namely Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and the United States.

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As Austria’s most prestigious wine growing region, the landscape of the Wachau is—not surprisingly—one of its most dramatic. Millions of years ago, the Danube River chiseled its way through the earth, creating steep terraces of decomposed volcanic and metamorphic rock. Harsh Ice Age winds brought deposits of ancient glacial dust and loess to the terrace’s eastern faces. Today these steep surfaces of nutrient-poor and fast draining soil are home to some of Austria’s very best sites for both Grüner Veltliner and Riesling.

Wachau is small, comprising a mere three percent of Austria’s vine surface and, considering relatively low yields, represents a miniscule proportion of total wine production. Diurnal temperature shifts in Wachau facilitate great balance of sugar and phenolic ripeness in its grapes. At night cold air from the Alps and forests in the northwest displace warm afternoon air, which gets sucked upstream along the Danube.

Its sites are actually so varied and distinct that more emphasis is going into vineyard-designated offerings even despite grape variety. Grüner Veltliner and Riesling are most prominent, but the region produces Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc (Weissburgunder), Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc and Zweigelt among other local variants.

HNYRPIGSA21C_2021 Item# 1188601

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