Well you’ll all be pleased to hear that this is going to be mercifully short today! The reason being is that Grüner Veltliner sort of only really grows in Austria. Yesterday when I started talking about what it was like as a grape, I kind of gave the game way for today’s post too, so I’m going to have to work hard not to repeat myself!
So I’m going to start by repeating myself! Well, we’ll call it a recap. As we said yesterday, Grüner Veltliner has smells of “grapes, apples, and salad flavour depending on the soil that the vines are panted in, or whether it’s on a slope, on a plain, or wherever”, in the mouth it has a touch of “minerality once again depending on where it’s grown”, and with a bit of ageing it can give some flavours of “honey and toast”. Right, recap done, let’s move onto where it’s grown.
Niederösterreich is up in the North West of Austria, and has steep terraced vineyards overlooking the Danube River. The Grüner Veltliner grown here can show all of the flavours we mentioned above. The soil is perfect for it. So much so that in the sub regions of Wachau (my Majestic choice comes from there this week), Kamptal, and Kremstal you get wines that are very similar to something like a Chablis. By that I mean the minerality, acidity, and fruit flavours are very similar to what you get over in Burgundy.
In Burgenland, in the South East, you’re more likely to get sweet wine production. There’s a massive shallow lake bordering the flat vineyards so the development of the fungus that dries out the grapes and makes them sweeter is nearly guaranteed every year. But there are a few hillsides away from the lake that do dry whites.
All 3 of my picks this week come from Niederösterreich. That probably says all you need to know about where the export wine usually comes from. Think I’ll start my tasting tonight!
Cheers
Other posts in NWTW Week 9:
#NWTW Week 9: Grüner Veltliner from Austria – Part One (includes voting poll)
#NWTW Week 9: Grüner Veltliner from Austria – Part Two
