2011 Rudi Pichler Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Wösendorfer Hochrain

Community Tasting Notes (9) Avg Score: 90.6 points

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  3/16/2024 - honest bob wrote: 90 Points

  From 75cl, slightly soggy cork, decanted 30 minutes. Initially showed a touch of spritz; best after it has warmed up to about 14–15C. This is the wine which I first tried in 2015, only to admonished by Rudi Pichler himself a week later for committing infanticide: "Hochrain needs 10 years after the vintage, if you want earlier drinking, choose Kollmütz". Well, yes and no. This did show brilliantly in 2019–21, but a bottle opened this time last year seemed tired, and this one was very fine, but subdued, fully mature and couldn't generate the excitement around the table it probably would have done a couple of years ago. So let's revise that recommendation, strictly personally, to 8–10 after the vintage. For my palate: drink up. 90P

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  4/21/2022 - honest bob wrote: 89 Points

  From 75cl, perfect cork with light Weinstein crust. Opened but not decanted 1 hour, didn't change in glass during subsequent hour. A big disappointment after previous bottles, this was aromatically closed and tasted pure but inexpressive, and sorely lacking acidity. Hope this is just an inferior bottle; two to go, so let's give a conservative summary rating tonight, and revisit shortly. 88–89P(?)

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  9/18/2021 - honest bob wrote: 92 Points

  From 75cl, perfect cork. Beinahe genau as recorded in my TN of 23.06.2021, just a bit more star fruit and a little less architecture. Still outstanding. 92P

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  6/23/2021 - honest bob wrote: 93 Points

  From 75cl, perfect cork, opened but not decanted 1 hour, improved until final drop. Great wine, as previously noted on 13.04.2019. Superb, delicate floral aroma; heavenly melon on the entry before the perfectly balanced "architecture" (the French would say "carpentry") takes over – you want structure, well, here it is. Great bitter grip on the mid-palate, long finish. Youthful today, bottles in this condition have many years to go. 93-94P

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  4/13/2019 - honest bob wrote: 93 Points

  From 75cl, perfect cork, opened but not decanted 1 hour, continued to improve until the last drop. Nearly 4 years on from my previous bottle, this is opening up beautifully – but is not quite there yet. Massive, thick-textured, creamy GV Smaragd with stunning acid/bitter/typical GV fruit balance and mineral architecture. Great now, outstanding potential for 5-10 years. 92-93P

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