2016 Rudi Pichler - Gruner Veltliner Weissenkirchner Achleithen Smaragd

Scents of struck flint, gentian and strongly pit-inflected white peach waft from the glass, and the expansive, glycerol-rich palate projects a corresponding succulence of fruit, piquancy, and inner-mouth florality. Suggestions of roasted, lightly caramelized turnip and nutty lentil add depth. Poised between sweet-saline lobster-shell reduction and the mineral- and seaweed-laced savor of oyster liquor, the inexplicably buoyant finish positively milks my salivary glands. (While Pichler likes to emphasize clarity and for that reason is cautious with lees contact, a 160-bottle batch of Achleiten that was left longer on its lees was fascinating for having both a richer texture and an even more pronounced peachiness, though it did not – or at least, not yet – display quite the same complexity.)