2016 Gruner Veltliner Kellerberg

At 13.3% the highest-alcohol of Pichler and Krutzler’s vintage 2016 Grüner Veltliner, this manages for all of its richness and gloss to evince a certain sense of lift and animation as well as an admirable transparency to herbal and mineral nuances. Pear, white peach and green bean are accented on the nose and on the glossy palate by Szechuan peppercorn, peat, alkali and crushed stone. The succulence and infectious primary juiciness of the finish underscore the wine’s ripe fruit flavors, but there is no lack of invigoration or lingering mineral and herbal intrigue. And slight salinity serves to keep the salivary glands pumping.

Beautiful balance on the nose — nothing out of joint. Lovely pure fruit in abundance with a note of hazelnuts that is still very fresh and youthful. (JR)

Picked at the end of October and beginning of November and macerated for 18 hours, the 2016 Durnsteiner Gruner Veltliner Ried Kellerberg offers a clear, deep, concentrated and flinty-mineral bouquet of perfectly ripe fruits (pears). It is full-bodied, round, intense and lush on the mouth-filling palate, but also pure, straight and tight. This is a vital, well-structured and finessed Kellerberg with very fine tannins and perfect ripeness as well as lingering grip and salinity on the very long, tensioned, highly promising finish! However, the wine is pretty closed right now. Tasted a few days after bottling in August 2017. Sep 2017, www.robertparker.com