2018 Rudi Pichler Gruner Veltliner Federspiel Wachau Austria 750 ml

It’s not often that you can say without argument that a certain producer is the greatest of a given country. With Rudi Pichler, you can say that without much pushback. While Austria’s history is full of fantastic wineries, none is more synonymous with great Austrian wine than Rudi Pichler. 

In the Wachau, where Pichler has reigned for three centuries, Austria’s signature white variety comes into its own from ancient stone terraces overlooking the Danube. Grüner Veltliner here attains depth, wild savory aromatics and a versatility with food that’s hard to match anywhere in the world. 

Pichler has developed a hallmark style that distinguishes this wine from whites the world over: a tight, clean precision that snaps into focus in the glass. The 2018 is crystal-clear, with bright clean orchard fruit, a long, mineral-driven finish, and underneath it all the combination of savory, spicy parsnip and ginger that makes Grüner unique.  

Rudi Pichler’s Federspiel bottling is remarkable for its ability to convey, vintage in and vintage out, what makes Rudi’s wines special at a price that lets us drink it every day. It’s blended from parcels throughout the estate, ranging from rich, lush fruit from the plantings on the valley floor to cut and precision from the terraced vines. The result is a Grüner Veltliner that is chiseled, crystalline, and fresh, and which speaks to the weathered gneiss and loess soils it came from. 

Federspiel* might just be the Goldilocks ripeness level for Wachau Grüner Veltliner. Bright and refreshing enough to drink on its own, Rudi Pichler’s example shines at the table. It brings out the best in ingredients that can be hard to find a match for (parsnips, artichokes, Japanese sweet potatoes) and it’s all too easy to pop open while roasting a chicken on a weeknight. 

2018 has been a welcome return to classic form in the Wachau after the ripeness and heat of the 2017s. It’s a vintage that flatters what Rudi Pichler is able to bring to bear every year in this wine: purity of varietal expression, balance, and a profound sense of place. 

While pricing is accessible enough to make this an extraordinary wine for every day, quantities, unfortunately, are not. There is never enough of this wine at this price to go around… be sure and stock up while you can.

*A quick note on “federspiel”: The Wachau’s history of winegrowing goes back far enough that they have their own unique, and idiosyncratic, way of classifying the richness and complexity of their dry whites. Federspiel, the “falconer’s glove”, is a step up from the ultra-light steinfeders, “feather-grass,” but is lower alcohol and less powerful than the opulent, age-worthy smaragd, “emerald lizard.”