A tasting of F.X.Pichler's 2008-vintage held at the fine restaurant Cru in Oslo on August 20th.
Riesling Berg reserve 2008
Straw colour. Quite intense and mineral nose. Stone, citrus-notes. Medium bodied and quite slim style in the mouth. Fresh and elegant
wine with a fine minerality. Not the deepest wine. Quite structured and refreshing acids. Good length. Nice wine.
Loibner Steinertal resling smaragd 2008
A little deeper colour. This shows more ripeness on the nose. Again quite mineral, some spice and flowers. Powerful in the mouth, yet
remains quite a slim smaragd. Again highly mineral in the mouth. Lightly flowery notes. Fine structure with refreshing acids. Long
mineral - almost biting - finish. Great wine.
Loibner Berg riesling smaragd 2008
Equal colour. More exotic on the nose. Stone, sweet flowers. Fullbodied Wachau-riesling in the mouth. Sweeter fruit than the Steinertal
and not as minerally intense. Again nice freshness. Some minerality on the finish. Nice wine, but a step down in quality and interest
from the Steinertal. Very good.
Dürnsteiner Kellerberg riesling smaragd 2008
Equal colour. More stoney, mineral nose. Some flowers. The is also powerful in the mouth and more intense. Mineral, but qutie different from the
tw other smaragden. Also a hint of flowers and sweet fruits. Seems very young. Fine structure and a quite elegant mouthfeel. This seems
to need cellar-time. Great wine.
Riesling Unendlich smaragd 2008
14% alc/vol. A little more colour. On the nose this is definitely a late harvest wine. Some spice and a touch of honey and riper fruits.
But also a great and deep minerality. Powerful in the mouth. Highly intense. Massive fruit, but this remains a mineral wine, although
there is honey and sweeter fruits here. Great depth of minerality. Nice structure and good length. Tremendous wine.
Loibner Berg Grüner Veltliner smaragd 2008
Straw colour. Aromatic grüner veltliner on the nose. Apricot, spice, pepper, sweet flowers. Light minerality. Fullbodied and again an
aromtic wine in the mouth. The is some fine mierality here, but after the rieslings this seems simpler and a bit lacking in depth.
Medium acidity and good length.
Dürnsteiner Kellerberg Grüner veltliner smaragd 2008
Equal colour. The nose shows a lot more minerality and depth. Hints of spice and apricot. Fullbodied in the mouth. Aromatic fruit, but
better balanced with a really fine minerality. Elegant and very pretty grüner veltliner. Fine acidity and length. This is a great
grüner veltliner and to me even better than the riesling from Kellerberg.
The 2008 seems like a vintage with overall a quite slim and refreshing feel. The wines are perhaps not the most concentrated, but have
a fine balance and seems to show a lot of minerality. It may be a vintage for those that wants more acidity and minerality rather than
ripeness and fat. The Riesling Steinertal was a very fine effort from F.X.Pichler and probably deserves to be better known. Also the
Grüner Veltliner Kellerberg was a favorite of mine. The Riesling Unendlich is of course the top wine here. It has more ripeness, yet
remains a highly mineral wine. It is a great wine with a price to match it.
Arnt Egil Nordlien
Tasting note: Aug-09