Franz Xaver Pichler, Loibner Loibenberg Gruner Veltliner, Wachau

Clean and very tasty with good acidity and length. Full bodied and round.

2011 vintage

From 75cl, perfect cork, P+P, improved in the glass. Just edging into full maturity, but no signs of tiredness. Highly polished GV Smaragd with all the typical varietal descriptors in spades. Fat, heft and emollient texture are there, but cut with fine ripe acid and a weighty minerality. Superb now–2028. 92P

2011 vintage

Ramps and Riesling Fest (Washington, DC) : The nose as an insane level of depth, this limoncello and honey glazed ham with chalk and candle wax. The palate is so dense! Delicious and just enough acidity to keep it going, but this is so rich. Pineapple and glazed peach and tons of flowers. Fun to taste in a crowd, but not one to have more of a half glass of at a time. But I still love it.

2011 vintage

Petrol and ripe apples. Not terribly complex, but still a nice wine with life left.

2011 vintage

From Mag, not too sweet and with some nice acidity left, however lacks a little tension

2011 vintage

Pronounced nose of white peach, apricot kernel, apple, white blossom, green olive, and grapefruit zest. A little dusty on the palate. Dry with a slightly talcum note. Past its best.

2011 vintage

Drank 2007/2008/2011 of this next to each other. 2011 was least impressive, slightly terpentine nose could also have been off bottle

2011 vintage

Very rich and low acidity. And yes - plenty of pineapple.

2011 vintage

From Mag, you can still feel the wood, strong saffron notes indeed, good but not great in my opinion - was expecting a bit more...

2011 vintage

From 75cl, perfect cork. Vivid, large-scale, structured GV Smaragd with the texture (not the taste!) of dreamy ripe canteloupe melon. Big fat mid-palate, cut with bright tropical acidity and white pepper. If I have a winge, it is that this is perfumed, I mean like Chanel No. 5, and soft-skinned, I mean like the models in the ads for Chanel No. 5. If you take Robert Parker's famous remark "the Chateau Latour of the Wachau" seriously, this just doesn't fit. …

2011 vintage

From 75cl, perfect cork, opened but not decanted 1 hour. Big fat melting GV Smaragd in early maturity. Much more enjoyable than the Boris Johnson-style Incredible Hulk Riesling from the same producer, same vineyard designation, same year (my CT TN 10.09.2019). Highly recommended. 91P

2011 vintage

Big boned and somewhat unsubtle, with a strong saffron fragrance. Appealed to some. Me not so much.

2011 vintage

Dark minerality on the nose, overripe fruit, medicinal notes. On the palate intense, medicinal, mineral, bright acidity and long. Very heavy, punchy and a bit flabby, lacking definition and focus. On top of that I find the medicinal notes which are a recurring sensation with pretty much all 2011 and 2012 F. X. Pichler wines I had a chance to taste quite unpleasant. Not sure what happened there. 84-86?

2011 vintage

An initial whiff of ammonia on the nose which dissipated after a couple of hours. Rich, overripe tropical fruit/fruit cocktail flavors. Normally a big Pichler fan, but this was boozy and over the top. Borderline undrinkable.

2011 vintage

Would have to agree with Tooch below. Normally a huge fan of Pichler, but this is completely lacking in balance. Tastes of alcohol, feels gummy, completely overpowering the fruit. Perhaps another five years and this will mellow into something nice, but for now, far too tightly wound. This not of the level one might expect out of this producer.

2011 vintage

nose; gun metal, white peaches, cigar tobacco, and pine sap. palate; bay leaf, white pepper, peat, and strawberry-rhubarb pie. full bodied. medium plus acidity. 60 plus second finish. everyone should be drinking more gruner veltliner. and with wines like this one, it's a no brainer. this wine clearly show's why F.X. Pichler is regarded as one of the best in Austria. any serious wine drinker should try one.

2011 vintage

nose of white pepper and of red peach, accented by anise; on the plate well embedded minerality and dense sweetness. crisp finish.

2011 vintage

Birthday party in Budapest : A generous, ripe, full-bodied wine. Sweet nose, combining GV's green notes (celery) with unusual ham, animalistic aromas. Bold, viscous on the palate, acid barely noticeable, but it's still lively. A little hot finish.

2011 vintage

I didn't find this very enjoyable, which is a big surprise. Previous vintages have been bombastic and modern, but the acidity has always won out. This time the alcohol seemed to spike a bit for me and the fruit was a bit gummy. I know 2011 had its challenges in Austria, so I'm hoping this wine mellows out and/or turns the corner with time.

2011 vintage

Rich, honey appearance and nose. Full bodied with almost syrupy weight but also high acidity to keep it in balance. Almost a different wine from cheaper Gruner Veltliners. Would like to have tasted this with another 10 years of age but very interesting to drink now.

2011 vintage

Solid, but never spectacular - this just feels a bit too broad and ripe, some of the fruit flavours here are in the tropical end of the spectrum and it doesn't have that focus or clarity that I look for in great Riesling. I wouldn't be surprised if this turns into something much more impressive with time once the fruit and baby fat recedes some, but right now it's not particularly impressive and even a couple of hours of air …

2011 vintage

Ripe citrus, apricot, herbal notes, stones. Medium body. Fruity-mineral savours. Okay intensity, okay midpalate structure, high, steely acidity, medium-plus finish. A very good smaragd, but I didn't have top class-feeling that is expected from the producer.

2011 vintage

Are you sure?

Franz Xaver Pichler, Loibner Loibenberg Gruner Veltliner, Wachau

Vintages

No vintages

Community Reviews