Weingut Rudi Pichler might be my favorite producer in the Wachau but Tony Bodentein (Prager) might be the Wachau’s best producer. Not to take anything away from the outstanding wines of Franz Hirtzberger or F.X. Pichler but Bodenstein’s wines, especially the Rieslings, are the most chiseled, precise, and terroir-driven in the entire Wachau. I ran out of things to write while tasting through his ‘09’s at the winery during Vievinum this May. Bodenstein’s holdings are mainly in the Riesling-intensive Durnstein area. They’re all the famous rieden: Achleiten, Hollerin, Klaus…ALL of the ‘09’s are exceptional:

2009 Weingut Prager (Tony Bodenstein)

2009 Gruner Veltliner Federspiel Hinter der Burg

2009 Riesling Federspiel Steinriegel

2009 Prager Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Weitenberg

2009 Prager Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Liebenberg

2009 Prager Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Weissenkirchener Zwerithaler

2009 Prager Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Achleiten

2009 Prager Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Bodenstein Achleiten

2009 Prager Grüner Veltliner Stockkultur Achleiten

2009 Prager Riesling Smaragd Durnsteiner Kaiserberg

2009 Riesling Hollerin

2009 Prager Riesling Smaragd Steinriegl

2009 Prager Riesling Smaragd Achleiten

2009 Prager Riesling Smaragd Klaus

2009 Prager Riesling Smaragd Wachstum Bodenstein

jessebeckerMS

peripheriquewine

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Traveling west from Mautern, the Danube River takes a sharp turn at the village of Dürnstein. Rudy points out that the village has some gorgeous architecture and attracts a lot of tourists; it's also home to some of the Wachau's greatest rieden (vineyard sites): Mühlpoint, Steinertal, Loibenberg, Schütt, Hollerin, and Kellerberg.

Dürnstein gets

I'll be posting about this again when I get back to the states but had to post this photo and say that this was one of the coolest things I've done in my 14 years in the wine trade.

Rudi Pichler is Fallstaff's winemaker of the year. Elizabeth and I first visited Rudi in fall 2008 and his wines are even better than I remember. His 2009s are nothing short of breath taking, look for some offers from us very shortly. Tasting notes and additional posts coming soon including full video of boating down the Danube with Rudi pointing out the crus of the Wachau.

jessebeckerMS
peripherique selections
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