I’m just back from a trip to three Austrian wine regions: the Kamptal, Kremstal and Wachau. All three are very close, so it was very easy to travel between these three regions. I have to say I met the most hospitable, friendly, and generous people I have ever met in a wine region. I was often really overwhelmed by the kindness and generousity they provided to a non-German speaking wine lover who was keen to learn as much as possible about Austrian wines. The tastings – most arranged in advance, but I also dropped in unannounced in several wineries – were also great because the winemaker was almost always the one giving the tasting, so it was possible to ask very detailed questions, and get very detailed answers about the winemakers philosophy, decisions in the vineyard and cellar, etc.
Almost all the wineries were pouring the recently released 2008 vintage, although some 2007 versions were also available (but not many). The 2008 seems a good, but not great vintage. Harvests were VERY late, with many producers not harvesting the last (and best) wines until the first week of December. The 2007 versions I managed to try definitely were better, as they had an extra year in bottle and were from a great vintage. Often, the recently bottled 2008s were hard to taste, as, when served cold in particular, they seemed to be all minerals and acid. I kept paraphrasing that old Wendy’s commercial in my head – “Where’s the fruit?”. The fruit was often hard to find, trapped beneath a massive wall of acid and minerals. Warming the wine usually helped a bit, and I’m sure a few more months in the bottle will see a change as well. But mineral lovers would do well to try the GVs and Rieslings of Austria! And the wines were definitely VERY dry: most producers went to any length to ensure as little residual sugar as possible made it into the wines. This meant that alcohol levels of the top wines were often 14 or 14.5 percent (and tasted it). I personally found it a little hard to understand why there was such a need for such a dry style of GV and Riesling – I thought it was a little too forced at times. For example, the newish Wachau DAC regulations do not allow more than 10 grams of RS in the latest picked (Smaragd) wines. I was often wishing for just a few grams more of RS in many of the wines, and/or less alcohol. But I think the main issue is that the Austrian market demands very dry wines, and thus that is what is produced. Very similar to Germany. Oh, the wine prices at the wineries were very fair as well, with the top wines in most wineries being 30 Euros or less (about $50 CAN).
I started in the Kamptal, visiting Hiedler, Jurtschitsch, Steininger, Rabl, Loimer, Hirsch and Gobelsburg. I came into the area one day early, so only had appointments with Hirsch and Gobelsburg. The Hiedler winery, on the road to Langenlois, was a great place to start. Like most wineries, they happily opened up most every bottle they has available. Many wineries produced 5-7 versions each of GV and Riesling, so there were many wines to taste at each winery. Spitting was the only way to cope. The Heidler GVs ‘November’ and ‘maximum’ (both 2007s) were impressive wines, as were the Riesling Heiligenstein and Maximum. Like many other wineries, their sweet wines were also great, especially the Chardonnay TBA 2005. Jusrtschitsch were also very kind in pouring all their wines, with the GVs Dechant Altee Reben, Schenkenbichl, Speigal reserve and Kaferberg all being very tasty (the later two unusual in seeing more oak than usual in Austria), and the Reisling Heiligenstein Alte Reben also being very impressive (the winery focused more on GVs than Rieslings). Steininger was next, a producer who focuses on sparkling wines. Again, the wines here were good, but VERY dry, especially the sparkling wines, which I thought all needed a little more fruit to really shine. The dosage could have been sweeter, and the wine could have rested on the lees for an extra year or two. Loimer was the only visit that exhibited a little snobbery, with two employees rather aghast at my dropping in, and only poured the Terassen level wines (blends of various vineyards).
Hirsch was a great visit. He was one of the few who dared to have more RS than ‘normal’ in his wines, a style which suited my palate. He was pouring the 2007s too, which was great, but also let me taste the recently bottled 2008s as well. The GV Lamm 2007 and Riesling Gaisberg and Heiligenstein 2007 were all great wines. He had a couple of other groups show up, so I didn’t get as much time with him as would have liked, but he was very friendly and had a real maverick attitude about RS, that’s for sure. The location of his tasting room was incredible, with an amazing view of the Heiligenstein and Gaisberg vineyards. Schloss Gobelsburg was one of my favourite winery visits ever. Eva showed me around their cellar first, and then let me taste through all the wines, even though a wedding was soon to be held at the winery. It was a very strong line-up here, with the GV Grub, Lamm and Tradition all great, as were the Riesling Heiligenstein and Tradition. The tradition wines were interesting, as they were made as ‘in the old days’, which meant fermented and aged in old, large oak casks. It definitely gave them a more rounded profile. I had mentioned I was sad I couldn’t go see Brundlmayer, as he was away, and their restaurant was closed for repairs for the first time in 20 years, so she gave me a bottle of their Pinot to take with me, as she said I had to try at least one of their wines before leaving the country. And when I tried to buy a bottle of the GV Lamm 2008 – a great GV – she also wouldn’t take any money from me. A very, very kind person, and a wonderfully warm tasting as well.
In the Kremstal, I went to see Salomon, Nigl, and Proidl. Herr Bertold Salomon gave me a great tasting, and I especially liked the Lindberg and Von Stein reserve GVs, as well as the Pfaffenberg reisling (all 2008s). Martin Nigl also provided a great tasting, with a very solid line-up from top to bottom, with the 2008 GVs Alte Reben and Privat the top wines, as well as the Riesling Hochacher and Privat. There were some great sweet wines here too, with the Riesling TBA 2006 having incredible length, power and balance. I had a nice dinner at the Nigl restaurant as well. I was staying 3 doors down from the Priodl winery. I had never heard of them, but the Peter Moser Austrian wine guide I picked up noted they made great wines, so I thought I’d give it a try. Again, this was an incredible tasting, with the winemakers’s wife taking special care of me (her husband didn’t speak English) in the tasting room. This was another maverick winemaker who wasn’t afraid of RS. He said he felt that whenever wines finished fermenting, they were ready – no re-starting fermentation for him. One 2008 riesling, for example, had 115 grams of RS! And it still managed to finish pretty dry! I tasted all kinds of wines here, as the kind person opened up all kinds of things once she saw I was interested, including a 1999 GV that really showed me what an aged GV could taste like. Again, I tried to buy a bottle here and the lady wouldn’t let me pay for it, another extremely generous action (Herr Salomon also provided a bottle for me to try). They also let me try 4-5 sweet wines, and wow, were these ever amazing. What a great visit, and such wonderful hosts. Too bad they don’t ship to Canada!
The Wachau was next, and I visited the Alzinger, Nikolaihof, FX Pichler, Rudi Pichler, Emmerich Knoll, Jamek and Hirtzberger. FX Pichler only had three wines for tasting, as everything else was sold out. The two GVs and one reisling were very solid wines, and I would love to try to their premium versions. I had lunch at the Nikolaihof winery, a classic dark-wooded country inn with tasty food, and tried a few very enjoyable wines as well. Tasting at Jamek was also done at their restaurant. Emmerich Knoll had great wines, with all of the 2008 Smaragd wines from both GV and riesling being very tasty. I love their old fashioned labels! I ate at the Knoll family restaurant, and it was my favourite winery restaurant I visited. Great food in an amazing orchard setting. The tasting at Rudi Pichler was outstanding. Herr Pichler was a real character, a real maestro with very strong and strict ideas about the way to make wine. Luckily for me, two wine writers from Switzerland showed up with me, so I got to taste everything available, and a few things that were still in tank. The 2008 GV Kollmutz and Kollmutz Reserve were amazing GVs, and the 2008 Riesling Steinriegl and Achleithen were no slouches either.
Well, that about it. These three wine regions are about an hour away from Vienna, very easy to get in and out of, and are also very scenic (but what wine region isn’t?!). Thanks to all the very generous winemakers for showing me around their wineries and wines, and for giving me a much, much better understanding of Austrian GV and Riesling. I’ll definitely be looking to bump up my Austrian selection in my cellar and have already done started doing so. This really was an outstanding wine region to visit, and would highly recommend it to other wine lovers if you are ever in this neck of the woods. All the winemakers I contacted via e-mail were very good in responding to requests for appointments.