 Drinking Rocks?
Courtesy of
30 Second Wine Advisor
By Robin Garr
Austrian wine lovers, I am reliably informed,
occasionally utter with pride an odd saying: "Why should we drink
fruit when we can drink rocks?"
This unusual allusion does not indicate a bizarre diet. Rather,
it's a proud reference to the presence of a clean, refreshing
"minerality" or "stoniness" in many of the country's best white
wines.
Rocks have aromas? Stones have flavor? Well ... few of us dine
regularly on gravel, but the reference may resonate if you have ever
walked in the woods alongside a stony cliff during a light rain ...
or sucked on a clean pebble to deter thirst on a sunny day. That's
the character often found in Austrian whites, particularly those
made from the local Gruner Veltliner grape in the Wachau ("Vach-ow,"
with a guttural German "ch"), perhaps Austria's top wine region,
located on the north bank of the
Danube (yes, Strauss's "blue" one)
not far upriver from Vienna.
Gruner Veltliner ("Gree-ner Felt-lee-ner," often abbreviated as
"GV") can make wines of real quality, but it remains almost entirely
Austrian, with some plantings in nearby Hungary and Slovakia. Unlike
many other leading wine-grape varieties, however, it is rarely grown
elsewhere.
Despite the proximity of Germany and a shared language, Austrian
wines in general and GV from the Wachau in particular bear little
resemblance to German wines. Warmer seasons, longer summers and
different wine-making traditions foster a style of wine that's
perhaps more like Alsace than Germany: Full-bodied and textured,
aromatic and usually bone-dry.
Austrian wine, however, shares one difficulty with wines from
Germany: The labels tend to be packed with long and seemingly hard-
to-pronounce names and obscure terms.
Let's wrap up today with a quick look at one set of Austrian wine
words worth learning. You'll note that the label of today's wine,
along with the winery name ("Freie Weingartner"), the vineyard or
proprietary name ("Terrasson Thal"), the wine region (Wachau), the
grape variety (GV) and the vintage (2000), contains still another
term: "Federspiel" ("Fay-der-shpeel").
"Federspiel," which translates roughly as "falconry," is one of
three terms used only in the Wachau to reflect the ripeness of the
grapes at harvest. The lightest style, roughly similar to the German
"Qualitaswein," is "Steinfeder" ("Shtine-fay-der," literally "stone
feather," the name of a grass that grows in the Wachau's rocky
vineyards). Federspiel, the middle style, is similar to the German
"Kabinett Trocken." And the ripest grapes make the richest of the
region's dry wines - comparable to a dry German Spatlese - "Smaragd"
("Shmah-rahgd," which means emerald and is also the name of a local
emerald-colored lizard).
GV is made in relatively limited quantities, but its availability
outside Austria is growing as the variety becomes better known and
wine lovers discover its remarkable affinity for a range of foods.
Some of the world's top restaurants are adding it to their wine
lists, including Chicago's Charlie Trotter's and San Francisco's
Slanted Door, where GV is recommended as an exceptional companion to
the restaurant's Vietnamese "fusion" fare.
FREIE WEINGARTNER 2000 TERRASSON THAL WACHAU GRUNER VELTLINER
FEDERSPIEL ($9.99)
Clear pale straw color, with light citrus aromas backed by that
characteristic Gruner Veltliner "stony" quality. Crisp but rather
full white-fruit flavors are laced up with snappy acidity; citric
tang and minerality persist in a long, clean finish. U.S. importer:
Vin DiVino Ltd., Chicago. (Sept. 15, 2002)
FOOD MATCH: Demonstrating GV's easy compatibility with a range of
foods, it goes very well with an omelet stuffed with green peppers,
onions and sharp Cheddar.
VALUE: Excellent value.
WEB LINK: The winery has a Website in German and English. Click
to http://www.fww.at/english/frames.htm
The U.S. importer's Website offers a list of distributors in many
states: http://www.vindivino.com/Site/states.htm |
