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MORE AUSTRIAN DELIGHTS
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WEINGUT SCHMELZ
 Johann
Schmelz is the kellermeister and owner of this wonderful little winery in
the Wachau town of Joching. This town (and some of its
neighbors) is home to many of the very best Wachau producers.
Competition is fierce and this probably accounts for the rather high level
of quality, even at the more modest wine estates.
Johann is the fifth generation of Schmelz's and the sixth, Thomas
Schmelz, is already quite active in the vineyards and winery.
Johann's first vintage was 1988 and today they have about 10 hectares of
estate vineyards. They also buy fruit from several growers.
They are amongst the "elite" producers in the Wachau, being on
the expert's list of the best vintners.
Johann and Thomas, with the wonderful expanse of the Wachau behind them.
Thomas shows off their soil, a major factor in the quality of their
grapes.
They plant Riesling in the more sandy areas and Grüner Veltliner is
situated in "loess," a somewhat fine, powdery soil.
Their vineyards are well cared for.
Nice elevation, too, providing good drainage for the vines. Behind
the town in the distance and just before the mountains is the Danube
river.
They have a lot of stainless steel and refrigerated tanks to ferment the
juice of Riesling and Grner Veltliner at low temperatures. This
isn't much of a "secret," but it does account for the remarkable
freshness in their white wines.
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- We first discovered their wines when their importer brought by some
fabulous Grüner Veltliner. The "basic" Schmelz wine
displays a wonderfully intense grapefruit and white pepper spice we love
in this variety. This has the Steinwand designation, a vineyard site
in the Joching area.
We picked up some of the 2002 Riesling "Stein am
Rain". This is a wonderful site for Riesling as the
"stein" contributes a stony, minerally character to the floral
Riesling. The wine, of course, is rather dry and perfect with all
sorts of seafoods or white meats. It's great with asparagus wrapped
with smoked ham or Prosciutto, for example...delicious wine!
I had heard Mrs. Monika Schmelz is quite a good cook and I happened to
visit around lunch time. This was most fortuitous as Monika was busy
preparing a meal.
Johann got busy and opened some wine and Monika served up a delightful,
typical soup.
The main plate featured some sort of cutlet with the most marvelous knödels!
Monika's sauce was outstanding...really great "soul
food." Interestingly the Grner Veltliner is flavorful
enough to match up quite handsomely with the food.
Schmelz does have a nice little "weinstube." It's not open
consistently throughout the year, but click on this link and you'll arrive
at a page which may have their current schedule.
http://www.schmelzweine.at/weinstube-e.php
- We have the 2007 Loibner Gärten Grüner Veltliner is stock, a delicious,
bright, dry white wine teeming with character. It not only pairs
well with white meats and seafood, but is dynamite with sushi or
Asian-styled foods. There is so much character in this wine and it
seems to disappear rather rapidly once the bottle is opened...(hint: you
may need two bottles!). We highly recommend this and as well like to
say it not only "tastes good, but Schmelz good, too!"
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Currently in stock: 2007 Schmelz
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WEINGUT WALTER GLATZER
The
Carnuntum region is a hop, skip and a jump east of Vienna. If you can
figure exactly how to get out of the city of Vienna, you're about a 20 minute
ride to Göttlesbrunn where you'll find several interesting wineries.
One of the most famed is that of Walter Glatzer. He owns about 16 hectares
of vineyards there, producing about 10,000 cases of wine annually.
We've frequently been attracted to Glatzer's wines, sometimes finding a white
wine or two to be to our taste. Other times it's a red.
I was invited to a major Austrian Bacchanalia in June of 2004 and we had a
couple of Glatzer wines which were absolutely delicious!
The wine which attracts the most attention for this estate is a red blend called
"Gotinsprun," an ancient version of his hometown of Göttlesbrunn. No matter how you say it, this wine is
delicious!
We currently have the 2000 vintage Gotinsprun in the shop, a wine that's
predominantly Blaufränkisch, Cabernet, Merlot and Zweigelt. A more recent
rendition (not here yet) features a bit of Syrah, too!
The Glatzer wines tend to be reasonably priced. And people flock to his
cellar door because of this price/value ratio...
But Gotinsprun is not inexpensive. Though I suppose if you compare it to a
similar quality Super-Tuscan or chi-chi Australian Shiraz, you'd find this
downright sensibly-priced.
The wine certainly features oak. But it's not just a carpenter's
delight. There are interesting vineyard and fruit components here as
well. I find this drinkable now, but then I find most good, balanced wines
to be interesting in their youth.
I tasted a fantastically good St. Laurent from Glatzer. The 2003 is a
rather warm vintage, so the grapes had little difficulty in achieving an
optimum level of sugar. This variety is sometimes likened to Pinot
Noir, but I can't say this wine is particularly Burgundian in style.
It's more like an exuberantly berryish, faintly floral, nicely oaked
Zinfandel except it doesn't have the prune or raisined notes of many
Zins. Youthful and drinkable now....delicious.
Currently in stock: 2000 Gotinsprun $38.99
2003 St. Laurent "Altenberg" $34.99
WENINGER
 The
Weninger family actually owns a couple of wineries within close proximity,
but one of them is across the border in Hungary!
Located in the famous (or increasingly famous) wine village of Horitschon,
Weninger cultivates numerous hectares in the middle of Blaufränkischland.
Their vineyards are impressively maintained and the vines are cropped to
maximize the quality.
Franz Weninger runs the winery in partnership with his wife Martina.
We stopped to inspect some young vines near the town of Ritzing where
Weninger has planted Pinot Noir.
"This should be a good site for the Pinot." he explains.
"The elevation is good, the soil is chalky, the climate is more
moderate than at our home vineyards a few kilometers away and we've
planted good clones of Pinot Noir." Their vineyards are
organically-farmed, by the way, though they don't make a fuss over
this. It's simply the "right thing to do."
Franz took over the family estate in 1982, making fairly standard red
wines and offering them for sale in bulk or in liter bottles or
jugs. His 1983 Blaufränkisch attracted a lot of attention, a
"taste" of what was to come.
In 1992 Weninger began a collaborative effort with famed Hungarian
winemaker Attila Gere. And in the late 1990s, he founded another
winery across the Hungarian border and his son takes care of the
winemaking and vineyards there.
Capturing the "Winemaker of The Year" award from a national wine
publication in 1995 hasn't seemed to go to Weninger's head. He's
very serious and passionate about making soulful wines.
The cellars feature both stainless steel and new, but "old
fashioned" wooden fermentation tanks.
There's a cellar full of new and recently-acquired small, French oak
barrels, but Weninger does have a "traditional" small cellar
with large casks such as the one pictured above.
The line-up is impressive at Weninger and they maintain a rather modern,
somewhat austere tasting room. The architecture is rather modern for
both the winery and offices.
Though he's not famous for white wine, Weninger does make a rather good,
light, typical Sauvignon Blanc.
Two Blaufränkisch wines are in stock presently. A medium-light 2001
and a more intense, deeper 2003.
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Currently in stock: 2001 Blaufränkisch Sold
Out
2003 Blaufränkisch Sold Out
JOSEF GRITSCH
 Gritsch
is a small estate in the Wachau region, located on the outskirts of the
town of Spitz. His wines are brought to us by a small Bay Area
importer and we sure were impressed with the first wine we tasted, a dry
Muscat called Gelber Muskateller.
It's a 2003 Gelber Muskateller "Federspiel" (the level of
sweetness of the grapes). What a gorgeous perfume and delightfully
fresh, fruity flavor! The wine is quite dry and the acidity is quite
zesty, a result of the cool winds which blow in and delay the ripening of
the fruit. That accounts for the fine quality of his wine in such a
warm vintage!
The 2003 Riesling from the Setzberg site, (the same as the Muscat) is
incredibly delicious! The fragrance is fruity and very floral. It's
almost as intense in fragrance as a Muscat wine. The fruit was picked at
"Smaragd" ripeness, fully mature and very intense. This is
dry on the palate, too. Very fine as a cocktail white and we like it
as an accompaniment to smoked pork chops, grilled chicken or other mild
fare.
After tasting the Riesling, I was curious to see how Gritsch is regarded
by the Austrian wine media...the famous Falstaff wine guide calls his
Muskateller "exceptional" and says Gritsch's wines are
"second to none." I'm glad they like the wines,
since the two we have tasted have both been terrific.
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Currently in stock: 2003 Gelber Muskatelller
$15.99
2003 Riesling "Setzberg" Smaragd $22.99
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WEINGUT FRANZ HIRTZBERGER
- This fellow is regarded by many as one of the truly elite winemakers in
Austria. Some call him a perfectionist. And if you taste a
range of his wines, you'll probably agree.
The estate comprises some 16.5 hectares of vineyards in the Wachau and he
makes about 130,000 bottles of an amazing array of wines. Riesling, Grüner
Veltliner, Neuberger, Weissburgunder, Chardonnay and Gelber Muskateller
make up the line-up.
We currently have a delightfully spicy Grüner Veltliner from Hirtzberger,
a 2003 vintage of his Rotes Tor (red gate) Federspiel. Great for
Asian cuisine, it can also be served as a cocktail or seafood
white.
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Currently in stock: 2003 Grüner Veltliner
"Rotes Tor" Federspiel Sold Out
NEHRER
 Hans
Nehrer has about 20 hectares of vineyards in the Hgelland region just
west of the Neusiedlersee.
He's in Eisenstadt, the "big city" in this part of the
Burgenland, south of Vienna.
This firm makes both reds and whites. We found a particularly good
example of Zweigelt, a 2001 vintage from the "Hochberg" vineyard
site. I have been amused to hear vintners from this area admit that
2001 is not an especially great vintage for their red wines. They
ought to know better than me, but I can say I have found a number of
really delicious wines from 2001. And I like these better than many
of the wines from the so-called "better" vintages.
The 2001 vintage displays a lovely note of berry and cherry fruit along
with a hint of wood. It is smooth enough to drink now, especially
with food. You need not be having a Wiener Schnitzel for this to
show well...grilled lamb, roast pork or a platter of ribs will be good
accompaniments to this medium-bodied red wine.
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Currently in stock: 2001 Nehrer
"Hochberg" ZWEIGELT Sold Out
WEINGUT M&M LEITNER
 M&M
would be a sort of candy here in America, but in Austria's Neusiedlersee
wine village of Gols, it's Melitta and Matthias.
The Leitner family has been cultivating grapes for decades. It had
been a sort of sideline business. They've run the place since 1975,
but Matthias gave up his other job as a sales representative to
concentrate on grape growing and winemaking.
Their son Gernot is now also working in the family business.
The family owns about ten hectares of vines and leases another
4. Dry table wines are the main focus, though they did plant
some Riesling in the 1990s with the idea of making sweet wines. They
have long seen their friends in the nearby town of Rust (please pronounce
this as 'roost,' not 'rust.') make superb sweet wines from time to
time.
And then you have the famous sweet wine maniac, Alois Kracher, in nearby
Illmitz.
I'm a big fan of Kracher's wines, of course. But I have to say the
Leitner's 2001 sweet Riesling is outstanding.
The fruit was hand-harvested one day during the first week of
November. The juice was left with the skins for about half a day
before the fermentation in wood. It's a delicious and
exceptional wine. You'll detect a ton of peaches on the nose along
with lots of honey. But the wine is not merely sugar. There's
a wonderful character of Riesling here. The acidity is good, acting
to keep the wine from just being candied and sweet. It is
excellent now and we suspect this will last well throughout this
decade.
Leitner's wines are imported directly by a local firm and the price is
very reasonable in the realm of Trockenbeerenauslese wines. Don't
miss it!
We just tasted Leitner's 2003 Eiswein. It's made of Welschriesling
which they harvested in the early hours of Christmas morning.
Absolutely delicious! The wine is sweet, yet the acidity balances
nicely. It was fermented at low temps in stainless steel before
being racked into wood for a few months to mature.
You can imagine our surprise when the Leitner importer brought by a bottle
of their 2001 Syrah...Here we view Leitner as a sweet wine specialist and
now we can see they have amazingly fine Syrah! The 2001
vintage is superb. It's a deep, ruby-colored wine with a wonderful
dark fruit aroma and the underlying spicy, somewhat hickory smoke
character we love in Northern Rhne Syrah wines. This was a total
shock to taste a wine of this depth and complexity! We found it
amusing that the importer is not a fan of American bacon and also finds
the aroma of this wine to be not to her taste since it's so
"bacony."
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Currently in stock: 2001 M&M Leitner Weisser
Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese $26.99 (375ml)
2003 M&M Leitner Welschriesling Eiswein $24.99 (375ml)
2001 Leitner Syrah No. VII Sold Out
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UMATHUM
 This estate has
become highly regarded for its wines. The family has long been in the
Burgenland near the Neuseidler See, but for many years they were part of a
grower's cooperative winery. Then in the mid-1980s, the farm was being
run by Josef Umathum.
They grow some local varieties as well as Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon,
Riesling, Chardonnay and Traminer. But it's one of their local grapes
that has caught our attention: Zweigelt.
 The
2001 was a delicious red wine. I suppose one might compare it to some
sort of California Zinfandel, but not to one of the brain-buster, high
alcohol, high tannin jobs so popular with many Critics. Instead, this
is a deliciously berryish red wine. There's a hint of a peppery spice,
too. It's not particularly tannic, so it's delicious right now.
Cellar temp shows it off nicely. I tasted the 2003 and found it to be
more simple and one-dimensional...the heat ripened the fruit to an ample
level of sweetness, but the grapes seem lacking in character, perhaps.
We served a bottle of this recently with grilled steaks. It was paired
up with a nice Merlot-based Bordeaux, so the contrast between the plummy,
oaky character of the St. Emilion was most interesting. As good as the
Bordeaux was, the Zweigelt was the more popular one, one guest describing it
as "orgasmic." Hmmm.
There's an amazingly complex wine from the Saint Laurent grape
variety. This is a sensational wine, of the complexity of a top-flight
red Burgundy. (And I tasted an Umathum Pinot Noir on my last visit to
Austria and his was the single best Pinot in the style of Burgundy.)
But St. Laurent is likened to Pinot Noir, though it is thought to have come
to Austria from France's Alsace region, not Burgundy. It's
not an inexpensive wine, but you get a really expressive bottle of
wine.
Have not tasted wines whose quality matches the price tags on the current
Umathum line-up. Stay tuned.
Currently in stock: 2001 Zweigelt Sold Out
2000 Saint Laurent Sold Out-
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