F.X. Pichler - Wachau Riesling Ried Klostersatz DAC 2022 750ml (12.5% ABV)

Lucas manages the winery together with his wife Johanna, representing the 5th generation to farm these lands.

 The Ried Klostersatz is one of the oldest vineyards in the Wachau to be cultivated by the monks of Bavarian and Salzburg monasteries. It is situated in the Loibner basin, within the curve of the Danube river between Dürnstein and Oberloiben. The fine sandy topsoil is overlying gravels that have washed down from the Alps.

Bone dry, apple skin, stones,  brisk acidity, meadow grasses, all held by ample tension throughout the lengthy finish. Uncompromising and pure rock juice. What a wonderfully refreshing and juicy dry riesling this is, brimming with fresh apricot and a hint of cassis. Really invigorating, thanks to the super-bright acidity that lights this up and makes it feel almost feather light. 

Loibner Riesling Ried Klostersatz is from the lieu-dit Oberhauser. It offers a clear, lean and yeasty nose of bright fruit aromas and grass. Lean yet intense and savory, this is a palate-cleansing dry Riesling with a straight, pure and linear character and a clear and fresh but intense and textured finish. Still very young, this wine should either be decanted or cellared for another year or two. 

is Pichler’s only Riesling that is not on a slope. The poor Danubain gravels are too poor to support Gruner Veltliner.

He avoids botrytis, even overripeness, and wants to harvest when the grapes are ripe to favor site expression, but he works with skin contact. As of this 2023 vintage, the wines are certified organic, which is not yet stated on the labels. 

‘Ried Klostersatz’ is planted on a flatter area near the F.X. Pichler winery within the dramatic curve of the Danube River, between Dürnstein and Oberloiben. The vineyard can trace its roots back to the year 860 AD, when it was tended by Bavarian and Salzburg monks. The vineyard's unique soil composition, with fine sandy topsoil and underlying gravel and pebble stones, encourages a slow and gradual ripening of the Riesling and Grüner Veltliner grapes. As a result, the wines from ‘Ried Klostersatz’ have a deep, spicy fruit character, impressive acidity, complex aromatics and a delicate mineral essence

 (The winery left the Vinea Wachau as of the 2020 vintage, thus dropping the use of the Federspiel and Smaragd term. Though they have always been farming organically, they started the process to certification in 2021.)

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farming/cellar - about to be certified organic, 4 months on lees in steel tanks, Bottled with more than eight grams per liter of natural acidity.  3.5g of RS

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