Some beginnings are quiet. They don’t demand much attention – but they have an inherent consistency that makes them significant in the long run.

Lucas Pichler’s Pinot Noir is one such beginning.

It is not the result of a trend, but a conviction developed over many years. It is not a stylistic experiment, but the logical continuation of a philosophy that has been shaped for generations by precision, heritage and an uncompromising commitment to quality.

A family with a passion for red wine

It was Lucas Pichler’s father, Franz Xaver, who planted the first red grape vines back in the early 1980s. The great Bordeaux enthusiast planted Cabernet Sauvignon on a flat plot with gravelly soils in Loibner Klostersatz. However, being a meticulous quality fanatic, he grubbed up the vines after the very first harvest as he deemed the Wachau climate unsuitable for this grape variety.

This decision was not a correction – it was an expression of an attitude. A willingness not to prioritise big names over the reality of a place. The realisation that origin is stronger than ambition.

Likewise, his son Lucas also harboured a desire to make red wine that grew stronger over the years. Spending time with wine-loving friends and passionate collectors afforded Lucas and his wife Johanna numerous opportunities to taste some of the world’s finest Burgundies and develop a deeper understanding of how such wines are made. His great inspiration are the Pinot Noirs from the legendary Grand Cru sites of the Côte de Nuits – Chambolle-Musigny, Gevrey-Chambertin and Vosne-Romanée – which are regarded as the epitome of finesse and complexity.

DEEPLY ROOTED UNDERSTANDING

What emerged here was not a theoretical interest, but a deeply rooted sensory understanding. Great Pinot Noirs are not defined by intensity, but by tension, clarity and length. They defy quick judgments, and therein lies their magic and greatness.

Where Pinot Noir is grown

On the left bank of the Danube, F.X. Pichler now farms a total of 0.55 hectares of Pinot Noir across four different sites, which are blended together to create the ‘Wachauer Pinot Noir’. The choice of a blend is not a compromise, but a deliberate concept.

Loibner Rothenhof

This southeast-facing vineyard is situated at the mouth of a small valley between the Steinertal and Pfaffenberg vineyards, right on the edge of the forest. The soils of this cool and ventilated site are of calcareous, sandy-loess. More than 20-year-old Sauvignon Blanc vines were grafted over to two old massal selections of Pinot Noir with compact bunches and tiny berries in June 2020.

Loibner Mühlpoint

The Mühlpoint vineyard lies at the foot of the hill below the Steinertal vineyard, at eastern end of the Wachau. Its sandy soils were deposited by erosion and are derived from weathered Gföhler gneiss – which is slightly calcareous. The site is sunny and warm, facing south. In 2020, half of the plot was replanted with the two Dijon clones 777 and 115. Previously, the vineyard was planted to Grüner Veltliner, with the grapes mostly harvested for Grüner Veltliner ‘M’.

Loibner Burgstall

Riesling vines grow on a very warm and sunny high plateau in Unterloiben, which consists of pure gneiss covered with a layer of wind-blown loess. The plot is very well ventilated, making it ideal for Pinot Noir. In 2020, around 0.2 hectares were grafted over to Pinot Noir, using the same Burgundian selections as in the Rothenhof site.

Dürnsteiner Liebenberg

The plot consists of two terraces at the foot of Liebenberg, west of Dürnstein. The soils are characterised by a limestone-rich formation from the Waldviertel region, giving them excellent water-retention, and a slate component similar to that found in the famous Achleiten vineyard. The high limestone content is particularly beneficial for Pinot Noir. The site is very warm due to its southwestfacing aspect and benefits from evening sun. In 2020, 40-year-old Grüner Veltliner vines were grafted over to the Dijon clones 777 and 115. In 2025, two further terraces right next to them were acquired and replanted with the Burgundian selections found at Rothenhof and Burgstall.

Weissenkirchner Seiberberg

Part of these Pinot Noir vines were sourced in Burgundy, another part was selected and propagated by the doyen of Wachau winegrowers, Josef Jamek of the Jamek Estate in Joching in Weissenkirchen. Since 2012, this vineyard has been managed by the Tegernseerhof Estate in Unterloiben. For the 2022, 2023 and 2024 vintages, F.X. Pichler purchased a portion and harvested the grapes themselves.

Pinot Noir is extremely sensitive to every nuance in site. A single vineyard can offer depth – severalvineyards can create complexity. The aim is precisely this complexity: not a monolithic wine, but a precisely composed whole.

The vines

Both newly planted and grafted over Pinot Noir vines, form the basis of F.X. Pichler’s Pinot Noir. The new plantings in spring 2020 exclusively used the Dijon clones 777 and 115. The scions for the re-grafting originated from Gols in Burgenland, where the Stieglmar family, of Juris Estate, planted various Pinot clones from Burgundy as early as the 1960s. The scions for the F.X. Pichler winery were cut in January 2019, and the first re-grafting took place in June 2020.

However, the Covid pandemic and late travel authorisation for the Corsican grafting specialists, resulted in a take rate of only 60%. In January 2021, graft scions were therefore cut once again from the same vineyards belonging to the Stieglmar family, and the missing vines were re-grafted along with the first re-grafting at the Dürnsteiner Liebenberg vineyard. This time, the survival rate was 90–95%. In the Seiberberg vineyard, Lucas Pichler was able to harvest fruit from a mix of Burgundian Pinot Noir clones planted back in 2005.

Climatic conditions

The small Wachau wine region stretches for some 20 kilometres along the Danube, with the majority of the 1,300 hectares of vineyards situated on the river’s left, northern bank. The ‘Loibner Becken’ or basin, around Dürnstein, Oberloiben and Unterloiben, where F.X. Pichler winery cultivates its vineyards, is the easternmost part of the Wachau. The wide valley opens to the east, creating a climate fjord. The northern and western parts of the valley are characterised by a continental climate with cooler temperatures and higher rainfall. Warm, dry winds from the Pannonian plain flow into the valley from the east. The steep, rocky and mostly terraced vineyards are almost constantly exposed to these dynamic, contrasting airflows.

The upper part of a Wachau vineyard is influenced by the coolness of the forest, whilst lower-lying areas are more influenced by their southerly aspect and the Danube River. The vineyards also follow the contours of the mountain range, meaning that their aspect is constantly changing. The diversity is therefore enormous, and the precise location of a vineyard plays a major role in viticulture in the Wachau.

While the Wachau remains a cool-climate region even in the face of accelerating climate change, growing conditions are becoming warmer and drier every year. Over the past 15 years, harvest dates for white grapes have been brought forward by around a month. Around two weeks of this shift are down to a philosophical reorientation at the F.X. Pichler winery. Grapes are harvested earlier, when they are physiologically ripe but not overripe with botrytis. Care is always taken to ensure the grapes are completely intact and in perfect health. A further two weeks are due to climatic change. The Pinot Noir grapes reach physiological ripeness as early as the beginning of September.

In addition, the Wachau is not a region of climatic equilibrium – it is a region of tension. Between the harshness of the continental climate and the warmth of the Pannonian climate, a dynamic system emerges that must be reinterpreted anew every year. For Pinot Noir, this means constant adaptation rather than routine is the norm.