F.X. Pichler Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Urgestein Terrassen 2015

Drawn from multiple sites across the Wachau, a blend skipped entirely in 2014 for lack of fruit, this 2015 Urgestein Terrassen opens with white peach and grapefruit framed by a green herbal lift and stony underpinning that could almost pass for Riesling. Silky in texture, it moves across the palate with genuine energy, never settling into heaviness despite the 13.5% alcohol. The finish is where it earns its keep: peach-kernel bitterness, a lick of wet stone, and a saline edge that keeps the mouth watering. Impressive poise, and that sense of lift feels earned rather than incidental.