Vienna and Wachau

[Saina Nieminen]

Wieninger Grner Veltliner Herrenholz 2007 14%; screwcap; label.

Light, greenish-gold. The scent is a bit woolly at first but it seems like a very true Grner with its green (but definitely not under ripe) fruit aromas. Mineral, steely and citrussy. Full body but crisp, citrussy, and mineral. Well balanced and long. Very nice.

Wieninger Alte Reben Gemischter Satz Nuberg 2007 14% abv; label; and back label for those who read German. This is a field blend (of, I think, Weissburgunder, Neuburger, Welschriesling, Grner Veltliner, Sylvaner, Zierfandler, Traminer and Riesling) from old vines of about 40 years' age grown on a very steep limestone vineyard in Vienna. Nussberg is one Vienna's most famous vineyards. Wieninger had had a dream of making wine from this spot for a long time when in 1999 he managed to procure a 4ha parcel.

This blend has a much more perfumed scent than the Herrenholz GV I was drinking alongside, yet it has the GV's attractive steeliness and minerality. It smells of red and white flowers, honey, Turkish delight, citrus and minerals. The scent leads me to expect a soft, full bodied wine with some sweetness to it, but it is actually quite crisp and dry without the sweetness of sugar, just the ripeness of fruit. I would even say it is racy, steely, mineral and seems like a much more elegant, compact wine than expected from the scent, the high abv and the mix of grapes. Extremely enjoyable!

Domne Wachau 1000-Eimer-Berg Riesling Smaragd 2007 15,34; 13,5% abv; 6g/l RS; 6,2g/l acidity.

Tausend-Eimer-Berg is also known as Burgberg. The wine is really quite a charming drop. Being greenish gold in the glass, it looks very young. The first day it is very mineral and smells of peaches and lime (apparently what 1000-Eimer-Berg should smell of!). The second day the ripeness of fruit is more obvious but it does seem like classic Austrian Riesling: dry, quite powerful, but not austere because it is quite fleshy.

It is still lovely on day three, though curiously it becomes a bit Chablisesque with scents of sea shells! So, days one and two it seems like a classic Austrian Riesling, day three it is a lovely drop but atypical.

Excellent value for 15. Buy again. Yes, and forgive the hyperbole, not by the truckload but by the Jahre Viking.

 

[Eden Mylunsch]

Wieninger's Alte Reben is one of those wines that flies beneath the radar of many serious collectors of Austrian wine (all seven of them). Because it's a field blend (or maybe because it usually costs less than $30), it rarely receives the respect it deserves amid the panoply of Austrian wines. The Wieninger Heuriger is also worth the detour. It was about a 40 cab ride from the city center hotel I was staying, but it was worth the trip. It was very traditional, albeit with excellent wine available instead of the usual stuff.

I was invited to a party in Nussberg after Vie Vinum last year and just after checking in at the entrance of the vineyard, the sky opened up and rain began gushing down. We were too far away from the top of the hill to turn back, so, garbed in plastic ponchos we continued on to the site of the party. Attendees had moved into the work sheds and the food and wine moved in with them. As rain poured down, plates of schnitzel, platters of sausage, cucumber and potato salad, etc were passed around to the soaked attendees. Bottles of wine were plentiful, with numerous examples of wine made from Nussberg. Vienna was visible through the drizzle below, and occasional lightning flashes raked the night sky. It was pretty dramatic and kind of surreal.

As the rain turned to mist, I took this photo:

It was the most memorable wine event I've ever attended.

-Eden (I guess that maybe that was my Diane Arbus moment as a photog)