2010 Gruner Veltliner Kellerberg

Pichler and Krutzler’s 2010 Gruner Veltliner Wunderburg – grown on what is in effect a rocky extension of the Kellerberg – is supplemented by a new contract on vines they can personally farm, and like its Superin counterpart was fermented in cask before being transferred – still on its lees – to tank, whence I tasted it. A smoky-sweet note of Szechuan pepper points toward classic Kellerberg character on an expansive, firm, palpably extract-rich palate whose suggestions of cassis and blackberry – here allied to beet root and green bean – enhances a red wine-like personality. Hints of coffee and toasted hazelnut augment the peppery piquancy conveyed in a finish of implacable grip and vibratory energy. This is going to be one to follow for 12-15 years. Elisabeth Pichler and Erich Krutzler (for a further account of whose recently-created domaine consult my report in issue 181) harvested from the first week in October, 2010 through the first week in November, resorting to no de-acidification, but allowing for enhanced residual sugar in their Rieslings. (Not being members of the Vinea Wachau, Pichler and Krutzler do not utilize the predicates “Federspiel” and “Smaragd” that are linked to strict – though acid-indexed – upper-bounds on residual sugar.) Other than in a couple of the lightest wines where it was enhanced, skin contact this year was equal to that in 2007-2009, though this can mean as much as 30 hours. Krutzler observed a phenomenon familiar from this vintage in Germany but infrequently cited by Austrian growers (perhaps conveniently overlooked, so as to fit a late-harvest narrative that I too have accepted?), insisting that at least in their vineyards, as Riesling hung longer and concentrated through desiccation, acid levels, too rose. “In general, and in the future,” says Krutzler, “we are going to prefer in questionable instances to pick five to seven days earlier to achieve better balance with lower alcohol.” It would be hard to argue with the results this wife-husband team has achieved in their 2010 collection, which with one exception was not put into bottle before May. Interestingly – and this could be a key to the evolution of 2010s; and/or to the significance of bottling dates and lees contact – Krutzler noted in June that “the tiny March bottling that we did of Frauenweingarten Gruner Veltliner to placate the domestic market had a bit of the Sauvignon-like greenness that one observes in so many 2010s; but as you can taste, this is completely gone now.” Eventually, says Krutzler, he and Pichler would like to try giving some wines a second winter on their fine lees before bottling. I’ll belatedly report on some of their 2009s and 2008s shortly, but here is one estate where challenging 2010, of all vintages, signals a qualitative breakthrough. Wines are now selling-out quickly (nearly two-thirds abroad); new Austrian oak fuders are being purchased each year to supplement the still-dominant stainless steel; and acreage under contract continues to be enhanced – indeed, the best source material, not just the best wines, are surely yet to come. Importer: Weygandt-Metzler Importing, Unionville, PA; tel. (610) 486-0800