2024 FX Pichler "Ried Kellerberg" Wachau Riesling

FX Pichler dates its international breakthrough to the 1990 Riesling from Kellerberg, and the site made the family one of the first Austrian estates that collectors pursued; many cellars built between 2000 and 2015 hold its wines. That era's style was rich and very ripe, and it lost favor with sommeliers. Under Lucas Pichler, the seventh generation, the estate has returned to a classic balance, left Vinea Wachau in 2020 to set harvest by site rather than by the Smaragd category's ripeness minimums, and again ranks among the Wachau's best; Falstaff, Austria's leading wine guide, rated the estate five stars in 2023. The terraces in Durnstein are steep and barren, Gfohler gneiss mixed with loess, facing south to southeast and shaded from early afternoon in summer. Imported by Weygandt-Metzler, which has specialized in fine European estates since 1987.