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Getting into Gruner-Veltliner
Posted by | Posted in Wine Reviews | Posted on 11-08-2011
Gruner-Veltliner vines with Vienna, Austria in the background. (Credit: Flickr user simononly)
Last week, the Austrian Wine industry’s trade group “hosted” a virtual tasting of five different bottles of Grüner-Veltliner, the white varietal most commonly associated with Austria. Several of the Terroirists participated, as did nearly 200 Twitter users throughout the world.
Grüner is a varietal that has thus far evaded my collection. Widely reputed to be high in acidity and extremely food friendly, I tend to associate Grüners with German rieslings (even if the connection is one born of ignorance). The food pairings are certainly similar — Grüner is trying to make inroads into the conversation on what to pair with Asian food.
Interestingly, Vienna bills itself as the only world capital producing significant amounts of top-flight wine — and that wine is Grüner-Veltliner. It certainly is a bit odd to see vines in the foreground and tall buildings behind.
To see the Terroirists’ tasting notes, check below the fold.
We opened five bottles — all screwcaps. First up was a 2010 Huber from Trainsental, just south of the Danube River and west of Vienna. This was a great wine to start off with — incredibly light in color, with a bright nose that included some notes of leaves and yogurt. It sparkles at the tip of the tongue. Cream and tart lemon flavors predominate throughout the palate. Terroirist David called the lemon flavors “nuclear warheads.” Not sweet at all; tons of acidity.
Next up was a 2009 Türk Kremser Weinberge from the Holzgasse and Sandgrube vineyards. This one was darker than the Huber, with spice on the nose, and creamy lemons on the palate. Again, the wine sparkled at the front but finished sour and overripe. Overall, the Terroirist cell were not fans.
Third, we cracked open a 2010 Leth Grüner Veltliner Reserve Steinagrund from the Wagram region, north of the Danube. I picked up huge vegetal notes throughout the nose and palate. Oddly enough, I was reminded of smashed peas; some sweet floral notes were present as well. On the palate, the lemons had a vegetal tint. Certainly an interesting wine; peas are not my favorite vegetable, so this may not have been for me. But some of my compatriots loved the nose.
Hitting cleanup was a 2010 Weingut Pfaffl from the Haidviertel vineyard in the Weinviertel region. (Isn’t German fun?!) This one was much bigger than the previous three. Creamy lemon predominated again, but it was mild, ripe, and a tad flat. Thick through the palate. The serving notes suggested roast pork as a possible accompaniment, and with the thickness of the wine, the unconventional suggestion makes sense.
Rounding things out was a 2009 Laurenz V. Charming Grüner Veltliner from the Kamptal region. This one had a terrific nose, with chalky lemon and cream. But for me, it fell flat and loose on the palate, with minimal acidity.
The winner, for this palate, at least was the first Grüner — the Huber. Each ticked off the boxes characteristic of the varietal in different ways: bright, lemony, with bracing acidity.
For me, Grüner-Veltliner will have a strong future as an opening wine or an unexpected (at least, at present) accompaniment to Asian food.
You really need to drink Terry Theise’s wines. The relationship between Gruner and Riesling, that you assume, IS ignorant. Try Gobelsberg, Hirsch, nikolaihof, Pichler. Your sample set is like drinking Oyster Bay, Kendal Jackson and Cupcake. I forgot you like Cup Cake.
your attitude stinks.
Thanks for the comment, Bob. I was just writing about the wines I had as part of the live tasting. I have no doubt that there are better Gruner-Veltliners out there.
Further, the connection I made with Riesling was not meant to be anything but free association. In the sentence that follows my “ignorant” aside, I state that both Gruner and Riesling are thought of as accompaniments for Asian food. Both varietals also have high acidity, in my experience.
I’ve tasted (and very much enjoyed) Pichler, Keller, Rebholz, Prum, etc. That said, I firmly believe that one need not drink $60 rieslings and gruners to have an enjoyable experience with the varietals. To imply otherwise, as you do in your comment, only further marginalizes wine lovers as snobs to the bulk of the population.
Bob,
I’d also urge you to review our comment policy: http://blog.terroirist.com/?page_id=15.
As it states:
“Be respectful. If comments are threatening, off topic, profane, offensive, or rude, we’ll delete them.”
My last comment about stinking was out of line. Plenty of the producers I mentioned make very affordable, everyday wines. Commenting on better producers and pointing out the ‘beginner’list nature of, not only the wines but the Asian food angle, is simplythe constructive criticism. Not one mention of minerals or white pepper? Gruner has been rocking the NY/NJ/CT market for years. Grand Cru vineyards of Lamm, Heilegenstein and Zobing are producing world class Gruner and Riesling. Aged Gruner shows on the level of the more acid and mineral driven regions of Burgundy. That’s where my passion is coming from. Everyday Gruner has more personality than Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio and almost any other innocuous wine in its category.
Bob,
Don’t drink yourself into a corner. That’s my constructive criticism. Not every Gruener comes off guns blazing with mineral and white pepper. Not every Gruener is planted in the grand urgestein crus of Heiligenstein/Gaisberg. The “Grand”-ness of GrueVe really isn’t its ability to age, its affinity for Asian food, or even its slice of life as a cheap(er) alternative to white Burg. It is grand, like Riesling, for its diversity. The greatest Gruener I ever drank was at the international restaurant at the BMW museum in Munich. It was Bruendlmayer’s 2009 Kamptaler Terrassen, for which I believe I paid 18 Euro, restaurant-price. Huber is not a Cupcake producer, nor are Leth and Pfaffl. They are merely producers capturing the spectrum of diversity in different ways, in accordance with the will of nature and the means of each individual producer. Nothing more, nothing less. And I agree wholeheartedly that no matter the vinification, GrueVe will almost always have exceedingly more personality than all those others you mentioned. So cheers: a toast to the grandness of Gruener.
Grüner does go well with Asian food, but I really love how it pairs with fried foods. The obvious example would be schnitzel, though you could then extrapolate to Japanese katsu cutlets. One of my favorite pairings was Grüner with fried chicken (I made the chicken at home from Thomas Keller’s excellent but time-consuming recipe): the white pepper and snappy acidity provided point and counterpoint to the pepper and the richness of the chicken.
On another note, what do you guys think about Grüner often coming in 1L bottles sealed with bottle caps? I’m all for this, though I’m assuming one won’t find the grander examples of the wine bottled in such a manner.
Joon – I’ve never had a GruVee from a 1L bottle! Perhaps at the next DC Wine Blogger meetup?