2024 FX Pichler "Ried Kellerberg" Wachau Gruner Veltliner

Kellerberg is best known for Riesling, but FX Pichler also bottles Gruner Veltliner from this Durnstein site of steep, barren terraces where Gfohler gneiss mixes with loess, facing south to southeast at 200 to 300 meters. Gruner is the estate's main grape, about half of its 20 hectares, and the producer reports that its 2018 Gruner Veltliner "Unendlich" received 100 points from The Wine Advocate, the publication founded by the critic Robert Parker. Pichler was one of the original collectible names in Austrian wine, famous in the 2000s for rich, ripe wines that later fell out of step with sommeliers. Lucas Pichler, the seventh generation, has steered the estate back to classic balance, and since leaving Vinea Wachau in 2020 it harvests at the ripeness it wants rather than to Smaragd minimums. The family has farmed in Oberloiben since 1905.