WTN: Felsner 2003 Grüner Veltliner

Felsner 2003 Grüner Veltliner, Lössterrassen, Kremstal, Austria, 12.5% abv.

This was my very first Grüner Veltliner, estate bottled no less, and it was kind of a disappointment. It had a lovely green tinted, golden straw color. The nose vacillated between bread-doughy and buttery. Doughiness on the palate, not much fruit, hardly any finish, and somewhat flabby. If I had tried this blind, I would have said "cheap California Chardonnay."

Fortunately the experiment did not cost anything as the bottle was a gift.

Gary, "estate bottled" doesn't mean very much in Austria, my estimate would be that the great majority of the wines in Austria are (in number of wines, not in quantity). Thus said, Felsner is not part of the top nor the second rank of producers; I wouldn't even put him into the 3rd rank.

[James Roscoe]

I've always thought of GV as a kind of cross between Chardonnay, Riesling and maybe a dash of Gewurz. Usually it's a great food wine. It sounds like your bottle tended to be over-oaked. Blech!

Felsner 2003 Grüner Veltliner, Lössterrassen, Kremstal, Austria, 12.5% abv.

This was my very first Grüner Veltliner, estate bottled no less, and it was kind of a disappointment. It had a lovely green tinted, golden straw color. The nose vacillated between bread-doughy and buttery. Doughiness on the palate, not much fruit, hardly any finish, and somewhat flabby. If I had tried this blind, I would have said "cheap California Chardonnay."

Fortunately the experiment did not cost anything as the bottle was a gift.

Part of the problem here might be the vintage. Though '03 wasn't as disastrous in Austria as it was in France and elsewhere, not all producers were able to deal with the high temps and drought well. In most years, there is no shortage of fruit and flabbiness is not an issue.

Mark Lipton

I just saw the alcohol indication of 12.5%. In an extremely hot year as 2003, this means either a rather early harvest or slight signs of overcropping.

Of course the vintners have their clientele which — year-in, year-out — want "lighter" wines, so their outcome at the basic level might not really be as satisfactory as in normal years, ar least for the lesser conscious guys.

Forumites, am off to an Austrian wine tasting this evening downtown. Will post some notes asap. Think they will throw in some Rieslings from elsewhere too. Yum.

Would love to hear from you!

Btw, if possible, try to take notes on the alcohol levels. This very much helps identifying whether a given wine is basic, medium or top-notch within a producer's portfolio.

Gotta be honest with you Michael, pretty much entry level wines. Usually we have 24/30 participants there, only 12 signed up this time. But will be interesting to note tasters impressions as many new to Austria I`d say.