F.X. Pichler Riesling Reserve M 2015

Late-harvested Loibenberg fruit pushed this bottling past Smaragd thresholds, too much residual sugar to qualify, though the sweetness never announces itself aggressively on the finish. Ripe peach dominates, laced with banana, almond extract and a heady heliotrope perfume that gives the nose an almost tropical richness. What saves it from pure indulgence is a vein of grapefruit, pungently fragrant and genuinely zesty, along with a bitter peach-kernel edge that cuts through the enveloping weight. The finish holds on impressively and reads drier than the numbers would suggest.