Gorgeous Austrian Wines from Wine Importers Tasting, including Bründlmayer, Donabaum, Kracher, Nikolaihof and Prager
Officers' Club, Fort Mason, San Francisco
Tasted Monday, May 3, 2010 by rjonwine@gmail.com with 2,459 views
Introduction
This was an excellent trade tasting, and chance to taste wines from some of Austria's top producers, as well as to sample more Grüners, Blaufrankisches and Zweigelts at one time than I've ever been able to before. The top producers, whose wines I tasted first, included Bründlmayer, Johann Donabaum, Gobelsburg, Jurtschitsch-Sonnhof, Kracher, Nikolaihof and Prager. The '08 vintage dominated, but there were also lots of '07s and '06s for comparison, as well as '09 whites. 2008 is characterized by lightness, and lower alcohols (an average of 1% lower than '06 and '07). 2009 is reportedly an outstanding vintage, showing ripeness, complexity and good acidity.
There was a lot to love about this tasting. Many of the Grüners were minerally, spicy, white peppered gems that would be ideal paired with a variety of foods, from appetizers to pork dishes. I tasted crystalline, delicious Rieslings. There were two terrific, unexpectedly good Pinots from a producer new to me--Johanneshof Reinsch--who will be the only Austrian Pinot producer represented at the International Pinot Noir Celebration in Oregon this year. There were also flavorful Zweigelts, St. Laurents and Blaufrankisches, especially from Jurtschitsch/Sonnhof and Muhr-van der Niepoort. And there were some of the wonderful sweet wines for which Austria has become famous, especially from Kracher and Nikolaihof.
I'll highlight the producers that stood out at this event in the listings below. I tasted 138 wines at this event, from 25 producers. Those producers responsible for wines that I scored 92 points or higher were Angerhof-Tschida, Bründlmayer, Donabaum, Feiler-Artinger, Johanneshof Reinisch, Jurschitsch/Sonnhof, Kracher, Muhr-van der Niepoort, Nikolaihof and Prager.
Flight 1 - Angerhof-Tschida (1 Note)
Hans and Lisa Tschida are the proprietors of this estate, located in the commune of Illmitz in the Neusiedlersee wine-growing region in Burgenland. Seventy percent of their 13 hectares are planted with the white varieties Welschriesling, Scheurebe, Muskat-Ottonel, Chardonnay, Grüner Veltliner and Pinot Blanc; the remaining 30% is planted to Zweigelt and Cabernet Sauvignon. They specialize in the production of sweet, botrytised wines, and this Muskat Ottonel straw wine, made from grapes that have been dried to concentrate their juice, was a lovely example.
Flight 2 - Bauer (6 Notes)
Flight 3 - Bründlmayer (6 Notes)
The Bründlmayer family manages 75 hectares in some of Langenlois's best locations. Those include the great Zöbinger Heiligenstein vineyard, with its highly structured Rieslings. The old vine, "Alte Reben," Zöbinger Heiligenstein was the star of Brundlmayer's lineup at this tasting. Steinmassel is another great terroir, typically producing riper Riesling. Berg Vogelsang is a great spot for Grüner, and the '09 was showing beautifully. No herbicides of any kind are used, and only organic fertilizers are employed. Small water sumps were installed around the vineyards to prevent erosion and improve the microclimate. Many of the vineyards utilize the lyre system, which doubles the sunlit and aired foliage surface area. 
Flight 4 - Donabaum (6 Notes)
Joahann Donabaum is only 30 years old, but has been the winemaker of his family's estate for several years already. He graduated from the Krems School of Viticulture while still in his teens. He also apprenticed with FX Pichler for seven months. He has selected only three varietals as ideal for the family's vineyards: Grüner Veltliner, Riesling and Neuburger. My favorites from this lineup of '08s were Rieslings from the family's two great vineyards--Offenberg and Setzberg--and a complex and delicious Smaragd Grüner from Spitzer Point, a southwest facing plot of 25 to 45-year-old vines at the foot of the Setzberg vineyard.
Flight 5 - Feiler-Artinger (6 Notes)
It was the sweet wines from this producer that caught my attention, grown near the town of Rust, that is known for late harvest wines, a specialty known as Ruster Ausbruch. “Ausbruch” refers to careful selection of only the most perfectly shriveled and botrysized grapes. This family winery was originally established in the early 1900s. After World War II, they were the first to restart the tradition of harvesting grapes afflicted with noble rot for the production of Ausbruch. They currently farm 64 acres with an annual production of 12,500 cases: 30% white, 55% red, and 15% sweet. Ausbruch comes from the German word “ausbrechen” which means to “break out.” Here it means that grapes on the vine that are affected by noble rot, botrytis cinerea, are the only ones picked, or “broken out” of the bunch, when harvesting. The most labor intensive Ausbruch method involves going through the vineyard day after day, up to a half-dozen times, and only picking the most perfectly noble-rotted grapes with each pass and leaving the rest on the vine until they reach perfection. Those affected by the lesser black or green molds are also picked but then discarded. The most traditional blend of grapes for making Ruster Ausbruch is Furmint and Muskateller, but Rusters are also made from Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Neuburger, Traminer and Welschriesling.
Flight 6 - Gritsch (5 Notes)
Flight 7 - Hillinger (5 Notes)
Flight 8 - Hirsch (6 Notes)
Flight 9 - Johanneshof Reinisch (6 Notes)
There was a buzz about this producer at the tasting, which is what caused me to check them out. The two Pinots were really stunning. Michael Reinisch is of the fourth generation of the family to make wine in Tattendorf, a village 30 kilometers south of Vienna. The family currently works about 40 hectares of vineyard in the Thermenregion winegrowing area surrounding Tattendorf and Gumpoldskirchen, which is one of Austria’s sunniest and driest regions. They grow a variety of red and white grapes, including the high in extract and alcohol white grape Rotgipfler, along with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. I enjoyed both the Zweigelt and St. Laurent in this lineup, but the stars were the Pinot Noirs. I can see why they were selected for the International Pinot Noir Celebration this year.
Flight 10 - Jurtschitsch/Sonnhof (6 Notes)
The Jurtschitsch brothers cultivate 74 hectares of prime vineyard sites around Langelois, primarily on barren stony or loess terraces. The only fertilizer used since the '70s is compost and green manure, and starting in 2006, they have been transitioning to controlled organic methods. The '08s and '09s in this lineup were good, but I was more impressed by the two older wines, from the riper '06 and '07 vintages--the stunning aromatic and peppery '07 Grüner Schenkenbichl, and the equally good and flavorful '06 Zweigelt Tanzer Reserve. 
Flight 11 - Kracher (6 Notes)
These wines are world famous, of course, thanks to the remarkable efforts of Alois Kracher, Jr., whose untimely passing in December 2007 devastated the wine world. Since then, his son Gerhard has been running the winery that his grandfather founded. Local conditions on the shallow Lake Neusiedl, where the Kracher vineyards are situated, are particularly conducive to the development of botrytis. The estate currently encompasses 25 hectares, about 63 acres, growing Traminer, Bouvier-Muskat, Scheurebe, Zweigelt, Muskat-Ottonel, Chardonnay and Welschriesling. Eighty percent of the production is sweet wine, with an additional 15% dry white wine and 5% dry reds. The sweets include wines in the traditional styles of auslese, beerenauslese and eiswein, largely from white varieties but sometimes also from red. The numbered cuvees are all at the TBA level, and they vary with the vintage, and are numbered upward from 1 based on residual sugar levels. Zwischen den Seen means "between the lakes," and those TBAs come from vineyards between Neusiedl and the smaller lakes in Seewinkel. They are matured in traditional large wooden vats. The Nouvelle Vagues, a style that Alois Jr. created, are matured in new barriques. The '06 Zweigelt TBA #1 Nouvelle Vague was the first red Kracher TBA I'd ever tasted, so it was a real treat, and quite tasty. The best of all for me in this lineup was the balanced and complex '06 #5 Scheurebe, with both citrus and tropical flavors.
Flight 12 - Loimer (6 Notes)
Flight 13 - Ludwig Neumayer (5 Notes)
Flight 14 - Machherndl (4 Notes)
Flight 15 - Markus Huber (6 Notes)
Flight 16 - Mayer am Pfarrplatz (5 Notes)
Flight 17 - Meinklang (6 Notes)
Flight 18 - Muhr-van der Niepoort (3 Notes)
Muhr-van der Niepoort is imported by Martine's Wines, which is what caught my attention about them. This venture started in 2002 as a collaboration between Dorli Muhr (who heads the Austrian PR firm Wine & Partners) and Dirk Niepoort (the famed wine grower from Portugal’s Douro), after Dorli inherited and planted a small plot of vines in Carnuntum, in easternmost Austrian. The pair have added more vineyards, so that the estate now comprises six hectares. Old vine Blaufränkisch thrives there. The Blaufränkisch Spitzerberg, from a site that had been known decades ago as one of the best red wine sites in Austria, with soils of pure chalk, was the best Blaufränkisch of the day for me. The wine is vinified in two lots: one picked very ripe and fermented with the stems, the other picked a bit earlier, destemmed, and subjected to extended maceration.
Flight 19 - Nikolaihof (9 Notes)
Martin Saahs
Nikolaihof claims to be the oldest wine estate in Austria, and its history goes back to Roman times. Nikolaihof has been owned by the Saahs family since 1894, and it includes 22 hectares of vineyards, grown largely to Riesling and Grüner Veltliner, but also small amounts of Muskateller, Traminer and Neuburger. They have followed biodynamic practices since 1971. The grapes are harvested by hand, fermented with ambient yeasts in oak casks, matured without additives, and bottled on "fruit days" during a waxing moon. This whole line up was the most impressive of the tasting for me, from delicate and spicy Grüners to gorgeous, lush Rieslings, and including a knockout 2005 TBA, my single favorite wine of the tasting.
Flight 20 - Ott (6 Notes)
Flight 21 - Petra Unger (3 Notes)
Flight 22 - Pichler (6 Notes)
Flight 23 - Prager (6 Notes)
Prager is another Austrian wine estate with a long history, dating back to at least the 1700s. They are also the largest producer in the Wachau. The Prager estate comprises a mere 33 acres of vineyards, but all of it in prime locations, producing cru-level Riesling. As a result, it is also the only Wachau producer that bottles more Riesling than Grüner. I was quite taken with two 2008 Smaragds, from the Liebenberg and Klaus vineyards. Smaragd is the highest level of white wine made from the ripest grapes on the best sites of the Wachau. Alcohol levels must exceed 12.5%. The category is named after the green lizard that lives on the Wachau's hottest steep stone terraces above the Danube.
2004 Weingut Angerhof-Tschida Muskat Ottonel Schilfwein 92 Points
Austria, Burgenland, Neusiedlersee
Intriguing jasmine, floral, fruit cocktail nose; fruit cocktail, floral, apricot palate with good acidity; long finish 92+ pts.
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