Jamek 2011 Grüner Veltliner

Oh, autumn! The most wonderful thing about autumn is the harvest - as it is getting closer to Thanksgiving, my American upbringing is kicking in and I am getting excited about stuffing and pumpkin pie! Here in Austria, the focus is not exactly on turkey and stuffing yourself until you explode, but quite a few seasonal delicacies have sprung up at the Naschmarkt, including mushrooms (it's mushroom season and a favorite Austrian pasttime is picking your own...) and Kürbis (translated as both "squash" and "pumpkin"). I've been experimenting with both ingredients, and since I decided to make a chantrelle (Eierschawmmerl) goulash for dinner, I thought I would flavor it with another favored Austrian autumn classic, a new wine! 


This delicious white wine, produced in the Wachau, is a soft, fruity, light wine - just what you'd expect from a new wine! Opening the bottle reminded me of spring, and though I don't often compare wines to perfumes, it really reminded me of Yoko Ono's signature scent, Ma Griffe (certainly it tastes better than Ma Griffe would, however). Sort of a lemony-sage-jasmine flavor (scent?). I tasted a distinct grapefruit flavor in the palate. The finish is a bit earthier than expected, and the color is a beautiful pale yellow.


I bought this wine for roughly €8 at Wein & Co. It's a bit more than what I normally pay at Spar or Billa, but definitely worth the splurge. 

Hiedler Kamptal Grüner Veltliner 2010

This wine was the Spar October "Wein des Monats" and is from Langlois, which is incidentally a place I visited around this time last year - it's a small town in the Weinviertel, near the Czech border. Touted as the "region's finest" on the chalkboard outside the wine section, I can even feel reassured that I was buying local when I bought this wine.

The Hiedler tasted excellent with butternut squash au gratin and bleu cheese. The wine is just sweet enough to be perfect with bleu cheese and just dry enough to be able to call itself a Grüner Veltliner. I might just be making this up, but i'm pretty sure I tasted notes of lemongrass and mint. Maybe even strawberry?! It was a very herbal-y wine, at least.

I would definitely buy this wine again. It can even be found online - props to being in a viniferous country!

Lenz Moser Selection 2009

Lenz Moser Grüner Veltliner; came in box

VC got this as a gift for being the judge of an English speaking competition in St. Pölten in March.

The flavor is a bit sweeter than the average Veltliner, which  could be accounted for with the "Selection" label. The bouquet is fruity, lots of citrus (lemon, and maybe even grapefruit). The palate is very like a Riesling, and went well with my veggie stir fry.

The 2010  Grüner Veltliner just won the International Wine Challenge 2011. That should tell you something! Prices for this particular wine I cannot share, because it was a gift. But, according to the website, you can get the wine for €6.30 per bottle, with the opportunity to join the Lenz Moser club, and buy wine. They also have the possibility to ship their wares to you throughout the world! Snazzy.

Where Have All the White Wines gone?

It's spring time, which means it't time to whip out delicious white wine, summer drinks and the like.

Recently, I had the chance to sample a fruity, new wine to go with all of the lovely springtime weather we've been having in Amstetten.

Called "Welcome," it is from the Winvino line of affordable Austrian wines: Danke (thank you) a Zweigelt, Welcome, the only Veltliner – and, thus, white wine of the bunch -  Zweisam (twosome) a Blaufränkisch/Zweigelt mix, Sternstund (magic moment) which is their cuvee wine…

For €3.59 at the local Penny Markt, Welcome is a delicious, yet inexpensive,  wine choice for the picky, broke consumer.  Sharing the wine aisle with 2-liter plastic bottles of Tafelwein (table wine), this Qualitätswein is sort of a big fish in a small pond…and one of the more expensive wines at the Aldi-esque Austrian market. Aside from the price, this white wine is a crisp, refreshing, with notes of lemon and green apple and went very well with my home-made hummus! 

The best thing about new wines in a typically dry wine is that they are somewhat sweeter (not being given the time to fully ferment) which makes them perfect entertaining wines. But unlike Riesling, Grüner Veltliner is not typically sickeningly sweet, and can thus be enjoyed with lots of things and by lots of people. Grüner Veltliner, unfortunately for those Stateside, is not commonly found outside of Austria - you'll have to do a bit of digging. It has been compared to Moscato (Muskatell)...but I shall not make that claim, as I think Moscato is sweeter.    

Weingut - Or, How Austrians Buy Their Wine

NB: As V.C. is currently living in Austria, and has plenty of wine stories to share...consider this overlap, the intersection of two blogs with the intention to educate distinct groups of followers...rather than pure laziness on our parts.

The Weinviertel is one of Austria's loveliest areas, a region to be proud of. On the border with the Czech Republic, it is rather hilly (certainly not mountainous when compared to the Alps) and known for white wines. For red wine, one must go to Burgenland...on the border with Hungary. 

During the, excursion, partaken with Austrians who really know their wines, I sampled some typical Austrian wines (mostly Grüner Veltliner) but also some Rieslings, a Traminer...etc., went to three different Weinguts, that is, wineries...or wine-growing estates...all family-run and charming! 

Each was different and offered different specialties, which I enjoyed. I tried to keep them all straight, but by the end of the afternoon (it must be said) I just had had too much wine! Each place is family-run and -owned, so there is a real homey atmosphere. My hosts told me that they had been going to one of the wine farms for over 20 years, and knew the whole family. I found that kind of amazing.

Another interesting aspect of Austrian wine culture is the Heurige, which means both "new wine" and the place where the vintners showcase their new wines once they come out -- which should be pretty soon! Exciting stuff. Depending on whether the Heurige is owned by the vintners, or by a local Gasthaus (Pension), they open between mid-October and early November. 

Here are some photos of the last place we went.

Unfortunately, there are no photos of the other 2 places. One was in a dungeon (OK. Wine cellar) which did not make for a photographic scene.

The second place was actually in the home of the Weinbauer and, yes, I was introduced as the American teaching assistant (probably a precaution against my sitting there looking stupid) but I still feel uncomfortable taking pictures in people's homes uninvited. I don't want to get a reputation as one of those Americans, you know.

Below are the grapes they gave us at the second place. I've eaten them all ready and they were super yummy! The one downside is that they had seeds. Which makes for a messy snack, but even better, you know they didn't put disgusting chemicals on the grapes to make them "seedless" i.e. infertile.

AND...the piece de resistance: 

This is all of the wine my Austrian hosts bought...over 300 Euros' worth!!! My kind of people :)