Sauvignon Blanc Smaragd
⏳ Drinking Window
2022 - 2028
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Goat cheese, grilled sea bass, roasted poultry
✨ Technical Specifications
While the Wachau is globally synonymous with Riesling and Grüner Veltliner, F.X. Pichler's Sauvignon Blanc Smaragd is a rare, cult-status masterpiece that showcases the region's versatility. Sourced from steep, hand-harvested stone terraces along the Danube, this wine benefits from the unique microclimate where warm Pannonian winds meet cool air currents from the Waldviertel. The 'Smaragd' designation, named after the emerald-green lizards that dart among the warm vineyard stones, represents the highest tier of Wachau dry wines. Pichler's meticulous craftsmanship yields a Sauvignon Blanc of extraordinary structure, combining intense herbal and tropical fruit complexity with the deep, smoky minerality of primary rock soils.
🍾 About the Producer
Established in 1898 in Oberloiben, Weingut F.X. Pichler stands as one of the pinnacle estates of Austria's Wachau valley. Elevated to international legend status under Franz Xaver Pichler from 1971 onward, the domain is directed today by seventh-generation winemaker Lucas Pichler alongside his wife Johanna. The estate stewards approximately 20 hectares of vines, largely centered on precipitous, hand-carved dry-stone terraces of primary rock, weathered gneiss, amphibolite, and loess. Benefiting from the climatic tension between warm Pannonian airflows and cool Alpine drafts along the Danube, Pichler crafts monumental, dry white wines of chiselled mineral precision, depth, and longevity. The family shifted to certified organic viticulture and voluntarily departed the Vinea Wachau hierarchy to prioritize terroir-driven Wachau DAC site typicity. Its benchmark portfolio includes single-vineyard expressions from Ried Kellerberg, Loibenberg, and Steinertal, alongside the cult cuvées 'M' and the transcendent 'Unendlich'.
🍇 Grapes
Sauvignon Blanc
🍷 ABV
13.5-14.5%