Winemaker Notes
Wachau Riesling is dry and often defined by high levels of dry extract (due to a lengthy ripening period) and a pleasing freshness (due to dramatic temperature swings between day and night). Rudi Pichler’s Riesling Achleithen comes from steep, southwest-facing terraces of meager primary rock soils resulting in a dry white wine of great structure and strong mineral character.
Riesling’s high acidity makes it one of the most versatile wines at the table. Riesling can be used to cut the fattiness of foods such as pork or sausages and can tame a certain amount of saltiness. Conversely, it can highlight foods such as fish or vegetables in the same way a squeeze of lemon or a vinaigrette can.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This Wachau dry riesling masterpiece is still extremely youthful, so it is anything but a no-brainer. But if you are patient, notes of white peach, lemon balm and a slew of wild herbs emerge. Super-precise and super-focused on the extremely concentrated palate, the enormous energy almost all held in reserve for a journey to the stars that’s just beginning. Enormously long and refined crushed-stone finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Clear, bright stone-fruit spice with ripe and concentrated mirabelle aromas open Rudi Pichler's 2021 Ried Achleithen Riesling Smaragd. Very clear and classic, this is the most attractive white of the family estate this year, combining iodine rock notes with ripe fruit notes. On the palate, it's powerful, rich and intense but also salty, fine and long. A remarkable, age-worthy Riesling from Achleithen that will take its time.
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Wine & Spirits
This is a substantial Smaragd from the iron-rich, calcareous and sandy soils at Kollmutz, where the 40-year-old vines on stone terraces look east and south over the Danube. The wine’s depths of citrus flavors bring honeyed notes of ruby-red grapefruit and Cara Cara oranges, along with green notes of heather and what one taster described as stewed collard greens. This is extreme grüner while being completely nonchalant about it, angelic in its purity of flavor, complex and needing cellar time to mellow.
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Wine Spectator
Pure and floral, this distinct style shows juicy grapefruit and creamed pear flavors, which take on an almost oily texture on the rich palate, spiked with zesty notes of snap pea, chive and bitter almond. A thread of flint and smoke weaves through this white, which has good length and drive overall.
Riesling possesses a remarkable ability to reflect the character of wherever it is grown while still maintaining its identity. A regal variety of incredible purity and precision, this versatile grape can be just as enjoyable dry or sweet, young or old, still or sparkling and can age longer than nearly any other white variety. Somm Secret—Given how difficult it is to discern the level of sweetness in a Riesling from the label, here are some clues to find the dry ones. First, look for the world “trocken.” (“Halbtrocken” or “feinherb” mean off-dry.) Also a higher abv usually indicates a drier Riesling.
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.