Rudi Pichler Riesling Terrassen Smaragd

Riesling Terrassen Smaragd bottle image

Wine Description

Smaragd is the Wachau designation for dry late harvest wines, above 12.5% alcohol through natural fermentation.  The best smaragd wines can age well for decades.  Terrassen indicates it is a cuvee of different hillside sites. Old terraces of varied altitudes and orientations and with primitive rock soils make this wine an elegant culinary accompaniment - with its delicate structure, white peach aroma and subtle slate tone.

Rudi Pichler Winery
Rudi Pichler Vineyards
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Acclaim
“The 2014 Riesling Smaragd Terrassen is intense and concentrated on the nose, and offers ripe yellow-fleshed fruit aromas along with crushed stone flavors. Firm and tension-filled on the palate, this is a medium to full-bodied, dry Riesling with a lovely purity and lingering grip and salinity. Long finish, very promising and stimulating. I just love it.”
— Wine Advocate, Apr 2016
“Fresh lime, raw hazelnut, and pepper cress combine for a slightly Grüner Veltliner-like impression, albeit allied with penetratingly bright acidity. Firm in feel, this finishes with a slightly austere combination of piquancy and underlying stoniness, yet with refreshing juiciness as well as a tingling sense of fruit-mineral interaction and sheer energy. I’d like to revisit it in the course of 2016, and I may have been too conservative in my estimation of its developmental potential.”
— Vinous, Feb 2016
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Vineyard & Production Info
Vineyard name
Terrassen
Soil composition
Gneiss and Rocky
Training method
Cane-pruned
Elevation:
726-1,188 feet
Vines/acre:
1,800
Yield/acre:
1.2-2.16 tons
Exposure:
Southern / Southwestern
Year vineyard planted:
1970-1990
Harvest time:
October-November
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Winemaking & Aging
Maceration length:
1
Varietal composition:
100% Riesling
Fermentation container:
Stainless steel tanks
Length of alcoholic fermentation:
14 days
Fermentation temperature:
64-72 °F
Maceration technique:
Cold Soak Maceration
Type of aging container:
Stainless steel tanks
Size of aging container:
1000-5000L
Length of aging before bottling:
7 months
Length of bottle aging:
1 month
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Analytical Data
Acidity:
6.9 g/L
Alcohol:
12.5 %
Residual sugar:
1.5 g/L