Finally, I settled down in Vienna a few weeks ago and that means, now I have the time again to go deeper in the World of Wine. In that occasion what topic could be more accurate than the most planted grape variety in Austria: the Grüner Veltliner.
I don’t know if you have heard about this grape variety but I am sure that you will see it on the shelves really soon if it is not there yet! It produces a great variety of styles, started with the lighter, fruity, white peppery and high acidic wines from the Weinviertel region where you can find most of the plantings in the country. Most of them falls into this style and the rest from the region makes the base wine for Sekt. (Sekt is a type of sparkling wine, made in Germany and Austria with the traditional method.) You can try full-bodied, age worthy, peachy and buttery Grüners from super steep slopes from Wachau, Kamptal and Kremstal the bests being labelled Smaragd. They can be just as good as the best Burgundy Grand Crus made of Chardonnay! If you don’t belive me, ask Master of Wine Jancis Robinson, who organised a comparitive and very surpising tasting in 2002 with the two variety.
Franz Hirtzberger Smaragd
Schloss Gobelsburg Lamm
The history of Grüner Veltliner started in 1855 when it was first mentioned with that name, before that time it was known as Weißgipfler. You can suggest that the name Veltliner means it has some sort of relation with Roter Veltliner and Frühroter Veltliner but DNA tests has shown that they are not related. One of his parent surely is Traminer aka Savagnin which makes it either a cousin or sibling to Pinot Noir and the other parent is an obscure Austrian grapevine from the village of Sankt Georgen am Leithagebirge located in Burgenland region of eastern Austria. There is only one survival vine of that variety and has a really intersting story behind it which you can read HERE.
It is a mid-ripening grape which thrives best on soils high in loess. It has became the most videly planted grape variety in Austria during the 1950’s thanks to Lenz Moser and his Hochkultur (high culture) training system. And Grüner is not only the most popular grape here but in Slovakia too as Veltlinske Zelené. It is not a coincidence that in the neighboring Czech Republic has some significant plantings with almost the same name, specially in Moravia and the southern parts and of course in Hungary near Lake Balaton and the south as Zöld Veltelini.
In the New World there is an increasing tendency to plant as well, in New Zealand the first wine came out in Gisbourne on the North Island from Coopers Creek in 2008. But there are more and more in Marlborough and Central Otago. In the very same year in South Australia at the Adelaide Hills they planted the first vines which was released in 2010 by Hahndorf Hill Winery. In the USA we can find plantings almost every major regions and even some AVA producing good examples. In Canada they experiment with the variety in British Columbia.
You can read my tasting notes of the Collector from Australia HERE.
As you can see there are plenty of choices and places where you can find and taste Grüner Veltliner. As of myself, I still would love to taste some more from Austria and have my first try from countries such as Canada, the USA and Australia with New Zealand!
I hope you found this article interesting and if you have any suggestion which Grüner should I try, please do let me know!
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