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96 pts Vinous
The 2023 Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Hochrain grows in the two different soils of this site, gneiss and loess. The gentleness on the nose has a flicker of honey one moment and then a flicker of green pear. The palate has a slender serenity that hints at savoriness rather than downright portraying it. The 2023 is elegant, with a beautiful and fine texture. It has green and yellow zest and pith on the finish. (Bone-dry) - By Anne Krebiehl MW on May 2024

Anne Krebiehl MW (Vinous) on May 2024:
“Exciting” is how Rudi Pichler described 2023. The estate sustained some hail damage in late August in the lowest-lying and highest Riesling parcels; hence, there is no Riesling Federspiel this year. Pichler quickly adds that those further east, in Kamptal, were hit much worse. He said that several theories did the rounds regarding hail-damaged bunches: some insisted that since affected grapes had dried out, they would not make a difference during skin contact, “but we decided to sort them all out completely and painstakingly.” This was only possible by recruiting many more pickers from friends and family and then dealing with all the extra admin this entails in Austria. “We managed it all, and that was a feat,” Pichler says. “It was the right decision.” Harvest started on 3 October and was done by mid-November – and the wines are as linear and taut as ever, even if the fruit flavors are in a riper spectrum.