FX Pichler

Franz Xavier Pichler is ‘widely regarded as Austria’s number one winemaker’ HUGH JOHNSON

His 2017 Riesling Smaragds are fabulous, and the Liebenberg again displays a class he rarely showed in earlier times. STEPHAN REINHARDT, The Wine Advocate

In the course of the 1990s, F. X. Pichler achieved larger-than-life status as an iconic Wachau vintner. In the words of F. X.’s son Lucas, that “in recent years we’ve been harvesting a little earlier in order to depress the alcohol levels a bit.” After welcoming their results in the unusually cool 2007 vintage, both Pichlers began openly discussing the issue of alcohol, and guiding their subsequent wines in the direction of moderation (moderation on the finished alcohol scale, that is; it was by no means their intention to discontinue powerful “M” bottlings or their Riesling “Unendlich,” let alone abandon fanatic determination to achieve the best possible quality.) DAVID SCHILDKNECHT, Vinous Media