Annual Austrian Wine Tasting

by Robert Giorgione

Why can't more tastings be like this? I thought to myself. I've been attending the Annual Austrian tasting now for the past ten years or so. For me, it is sincerely one of my personal vinous highlights of the year. The event always seems to be extremely positive, with a powerful up-beat energy and ambience and everyone just trying to taste fabulous wines and make new discoveries. Moreover, from within the wine trade itself, I think it has become one of the favourites, as the dynamic enthusiasm and eagerness to taste the latest offerings and to keep up with all the exciting innovations from the passionate Austrian winemakers is extremely infectious.

Hochgrassnitzberg vineyard (below) in Steiermark (Styria) in the Southern part of Austria. These are Sauvignon Blanc vines owned by Polz. They are planted at quite a high altitude and the resulting wines have a beautiful freshness, minerality and acidity, which guarantees a great ageing potential. I'm also a big fan of their "Therese" Sauvignon Blanc, which I used to serve by the glass whilst at Orrery, yet it displays more of a clean, fresh, herbal and fruit-driven character. For me, these wines were a real eye-opener and stylistically fall in between the Loire and New Zealand.

Toni Bodenstein of Weingut Prager based in Weissenkirchen, Wachau is a master of Rieslings and Gruner Veltliners. I have been a big fan of him and his wines for many years and used to list them when I was at Harvey Nichols Fifth Floor and Orrery. A personal favourite of mine over the years has been the wines produced from the "Achleiten" vineyard, which has become known as a wonderful site within Wachau for Riesling.

Agents for Prager, Hiedler and Unger (both from Kremstal) wines are Fields, Morris and Verdin. For further details please contact Lenka Sedlackova.

However, even though Austria boasts such great well-established winemakers and wines such as these, there are also a whole host of underrated and up-and-coming estates which should not be overlooked. For instance, Rainer Wess (founded in 2003 in Unterloiben) I enjoyed the delicate and aromatic 2008 Gruner Veltliner "Loibenberg" and Domaine Wachau (formerly FWW in Durnstein), I was particularly impressed with the 2009 Gruner Veltliner Federspiel.

Moving onto the Kamptal region, there are a few vinous gems here. Birgit Eichinger (below) of Weingut Eichinger is based in Strass near to Langenlois. I particularly liked the fresh pear and quince-scented Gruner Veltliner "Hasel" with its delicate floral character. The soil type here is mainly loess, yet there is also some primary rock, which gives the wine some degree of minerality. She also presented a 1999 from the "Gaisberg" vineyard, which had aged beautifully and was full of citrus peel, spice and stone fruit aromas. Utterly delicious. As with a few of her talented female winemaker colleagues, including her sister Michaela Haas, she is a member of the 11 Frauen und ihre Weine. Michaela is winemaker at Weingut Allram. see tasting notes and comments later.

Michaela Hass (below) and her husband Erich run the estate and have built up a very good reputation. The secret to their success is to put a lot of care and focus into the vineyards and specifically the planting of grape varieties, such as Riesling and Gruner Veltliner, which express themselves positively reflecting the terroir. The wines even display a real saline minerality. I was most impressed with the "Gaisberg" and "Heiligenstein".

Purity and expression are hallmarks of the Allram wines.

A photo I took in 2007 of two famous vineyards within Kamptal (below) Heiligenstein (left) and Gaisberg (right)

Another 'star' of the region is Fred Loimer, who is based in Langenlois. His wines are imported by Liberty Wines and represented internationally by Andreas Wickhoff (below) of Premium Estates. They have a wonderful range of wines, very focused, exciting, vibrant and pure. For me, anyone wishing to experience a good example of an Austrian white wine, perhaps for instance for the first time, I would sincerely suggest they try one of Fred's wines. Andreas also represents the remarkable red wines produced by the talented Gernot Heinrich in Gols, Burgenland.

Speaking of red wines, it was lovely to catch up with an old friend Axel Stiegelmar (below). I adore his Pinot Noirs and St Laurent wines, under the "Juris" label, which are produced in Burgenland. I would defy anyone to taste these well-crafted and balanced examples to say that Austria can't produce elegant, good quality reds.

The 2008 St Laurent "Selection" was full of elegant, rich, plummy and morello cherry fruit. The 2006 Pinot Noir "Reserve" produced from a 35 year old vineyard, was showing very well, yet displayed plenty of aromatic complexity and intensity. There were also some interesting herbal and floral notes too and the wine finished with a long delicious length.

Other reds also worthy of a mention are: 2008 St Laurent "Dorflagen" made by Gerhard Pittnauer; the hugely powerful and esoteric range of Blaufrankisch wines produced by Roland Velich at Moric - these wines are not for the faint-hearted! He makes these wines based out in the sticks in Mittelburgenland and the locals think he's from another planet, but his wines are truly extraordinary. Silvia Prieler's Pinot Blanc always impresses me, but for me the star was the elegant 2008 Blaufrankisch "Leithaberg". Josef Umathum's 2006 Zweigelt "Ried Hallebuhl" with its earthy and spicy morello cherry fruit and supple tannins also stood out. I made a real discovery when I tasted Judith Beck's wines for the first time. She cut her teeth at places such as Cos d'Estournel in Bordeaux, Braida Estate in Piedmont and Errazuriz in Chile. Her range of Blaufrankisch wines had real personality. I think she is one to watch out for.

Now onto the 'stickies'. If there's something which Austria can truly claim to be 'world class' at, it's the production of great dessert wines. They come primarily from around the Neusiedlersee (Lake Neusiedl) on the border with Hungary in the East. The special micro-climate here is perfect. The two main towns which have soaked up all the acclaim and fabulous reputations are Rust and Illmitz, where the best of the regions winemakers are located. Kracher (below) is one of these. I wanted to end the tasting on a high note and it doesn't come better than this! For further information please contact Noel Young.