An Austrian Wine Tasting

This past Thursday, I had the pleasure of attending an Austrian wine tasting event at the Austrian Embassy in Washington, D.C. The event was arranged by Laurent Guinand and GiraMondo Wine Adventures in conjunction with the International Club of D.C. This was my first foreign consulate experience so I was unsure what to expect but was pleasantly surprised with how casual an affair it was. I sat at a table with some very nice folks and I had a great time getting to know them while we enjoyed a nice selection of Austrian wines and food. The one thing I could fault the event planners for was that there was not quite enough food to go around so I did not get to try the Jaeger Schnitzel. However, I am partially to blame due to a tactical error in going for the wines first and getting food later. Fortunately, I was able to fill up on very nice Chicken Granciola and Spaetzle as well as a selection of tasty desserts. There ended up being more than enough wine for all to try as many as they liked so lesson learned for me.

The most planted grape in Austria is Grüner Veltliner (GREW-ner felt-LEEN-er) and it makes what is clearly the country's signature white wine. Fans of the grape, a list of wine enthusiasts that includes yours truly, often abbreviate the grape's name to GV or Gru-Ve (“groovy”). While grown in smaller amounts elsewhere in Europe, its association with Austria is well-deserved. From good vineyard sites with low yields, the grape can be turned into deliciously spicy and sometimes very intense white wines. If you have never had one, they are definitely worth seeking out. With their increased domestic popularity in recent years, you shouldn't have to look too far.

Austria's signature red grape is Zweigelt (TSVYE-gelt), a grape that holds the honor of being last alphabetically on pretty much any list of wine grapes (it is the second to last entry in the most recent Oxford Companion to Wine, losing out only to “zymase”, which is an enzyme). Zweigelt, like Grüner Veltliner, can really bring the spice along with rich cherry flavors and typically results in medium-bodied wines. Another grape represented at the tasting is St. Laurent, which is one of the parents of Zweigelt (the other being Blaüfrankisch). St. Laurent produces very deeply colored and full-bodied and velvety reds.

All of the wines poured at the event are available on retail shelves in the Washington D.C. area. I had personally had several of them before, albeit in older vintages, at other Austrian wine events I had attended in the past. I really am a big fan of Austrian wines in general and look forward to their continued growth in popularity in this country.

For what it is worth, here are my wine notes from the event:

2006 Anton Bauer Grüner Veltliner Gmork, Donauland-Wagram, not stunning but solid and very good typicity for a GV. Rich peach, and a little mango, the more tropical of the two GVs served. Nicely balanced and pleasant. ~$12 and generally pretty easy to find at retailers in this area.

2006 Tegernseerhof T26 Grüner Veltliner, from a biodynamic producer. Less fruit-forward than the Bauer. Light peach and a very smoky presentation, almost as if the wine had been lightly aerated with cigarette smoke (but in a good way). More crisp, a little earthy and perfectly balanced with a mineral-driven finish. This is a very good and very interesting wine indeed. ~$13.

2006 Steininger Zweigelt, Kamptal, grapey with red cherry and a little smokiness. Moderate tannins and a nice finish. Not as spicy as I like a Zweigelt to be but a solid red wine. ~$16.
2006 Hillinger Zweigelt, Burgenland, organic producer. I am fond of Hillinger's “Small Hill” blend (Merlot, Pinot Noir and St. Laurent) as an everyday red so I had high hopes for this one. Very similar nose as the Steininger but much more assertive initially on the tongue with black cherry and earthiness. Alas, has little additional to say as it moves to the rear of the tongue and has very little finish to speak of. ~$18.

2005 Anton Bauer Pinot Noir Reserve, easily the worst wine of the night. Cranberry juice extract to the eye. Gary Vaynerchuk's “Oak Monster” is out in full force on this wine, almost to the exclusion of everything else. A little cherry, a little ethyl (probably only discernible due to the lack of fruit). Like licking the inside of tree bark. ~$30.

2005 Steindorfer St. Laurent Reserve, Burgenland. Highly extracted, almost entirely opaque. Very grapey with a touch of cedar and some cherry, sharp with some white pepper and light tannins. This was my first varietal St. Laurent. It reminded me quite a bit of a Norton (a native American grape that I plan on writing about in the near future). As it happens, I was sitting at table with a woman who used to work at Chrysalis Vineyards, a Virginia winery that makes one of the most highly-regarded Nortons on the east coast, and she agreed. This wine was tasty but quite monotonic and probably a bit too rich to drink more than one glass of at a sitting. ~$25.

2004 Steindorfer Eiswein “Cuvee Klaus”, Burgerland, I have had this eiswein twice before and I adored it both times and I adored it at this tasting. A mixture of Welshriesling and Pinot Gris, very aromatic with musky herbal notes and honey. Perhaps slightly too low in acidity but not at all flabby. Beautiful and delicious and it paired well with the apple strudel and wonderfully with the less sweet cheese strudel. ~$35.

I went back for more red to accompany the Sachertorte, a chocolate-on-chocolate torte, and chose the Steininger Zweigelt. They paired quite nicely and solidified my choice of this wine as the best red of the evening.