Let's discover 2003 Grüner Veltliner...

Frankfurt, Germany
Tasted Wednesday, June 1, 2005 by Will with 761 views

Introduction

A wine shop in Frankfurt (specialised in Burgundy, Alsace and Austria) organised a tasting of 2003 Grüner Veltliner yesterday night. There were 7 wines and 8 participants. The results were a bit all over the map with two wines creating some controversy, namely the FX Pichler and the Loimer Spiegel. The FX Pichler was either rated very high (1st or 2nd place) by 5 participants or very low (last place) by the 3 others. The Loimer Spiegel created a small debate about oak - more or less everybody agreed it was quite well done, but the debate focused more on what was to be gained by trying to produce this kind of wine.

note: I had only had one glass of GV in my life before this tasting, therefore this is definitely the point of view from somebody who knows next to nothing about these wines. All wines were tasted blind with only one flight of 7 wines. Notes were compared at the end of the tasting, rankings provided and then only were the wines revealed (leading to more discussion).

All the wines tasted share certain characteristics that I guess are related to the variety and have not been repeated below: all the noses were very fresh and vibrant, and all the wines showed a lot of acidity - if this is repeated in the TN it means it was particularly noticeable.

Flight 1 (7 Notes)

  • 2003 Hiedler Grüner Veltliner Maximum

    Austria, Niederösterreich, Kamptal

    Very fresh but otherwise not so interesting nose. Really big and quite powerful in the mouth with some volatile aromas and perceptible acidity. A bit of alcohol on the finish. The wine develops quite well in the glass. (5th out of 7)

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  • 2003 Nigl Grüner Veltliner Privat

    Austria, Niederösterreich, Kremstal

    Some fruit on the nose as well as clear acidity, not very "talkative" right now. The palate seemed to be a bit off at first but then got better with a nice aromatic palette and a well integrated acidity. The finish was a bit short, but the wine was developing really well in the glass. (4th out of 7)

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  • 2003 Franz Hirtzberger Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Honivogl

    Austria, Niederösterreich, Wachau

    Interesting nose, quite orignal with a salty aspect that really calls for food. Very fresh and charming. On the palate it is also quite nice although a bit restrained at the moment, with good acidity. The finish is ok with maybe a bit too much remaining acidity. Overall the balance is good and the wine shows a great finesse. (3rd out of 7)

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  • 2003 Weingut Knoll Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Ried Loibenberg

    Austria, Niederösterreich, Wachau

    Very salty with some medicinal and aromatic herbs on the nose. The palate is superb with a very well integrated acidity and it is developing into something really complex. The finish is at the same level and this is for me the WOTN, due to its balance and complexity. (1st out of 7)

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  • 2003 Loimer Grüner Veltliner Spiegel

    Austria, Niederösterreich, Kamptal

    The most prominent feature of this wine is that it MUST have seen some (significant) oak, although some participants thought it was not aged in oak... The wine was fine but to me any kind of typicity from either the terroir or the variety was lost almost completely and it could as well have been any mildly oaked Chardonnay from anywhere on the planet. The wine was not bad per se but I thought there was no interest in drinking this. (6th out of 7)

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  • 2003 Alzinger Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Loibenberg

    Austria, Niederösterreich, Wachau

    Nice, delicate nose and pleasing palate with "new" aromas for me for a GV, especially a combination of bitter and acidulated notes, with the regular underlying acidity - and a good balance between all these components. At first the finish was ok but as time went on it was disappearing fast. Still a very good wine. (2nd out of 7)

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  • 2003 F.X. Pichler Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Ried Kellerberg

    Austria, Niederösterreich, Wachau

    On the palate the wine is quite nice but the nose shows too much alcohol as well as some volatile notes - not good. The finish also tends to show too much alcohol. Overall the wine is off-balance, and the different elements (especially acidity and alcohol) seem to be disjointed. I really didn't care for it, although for some other people it was the best of the evening. (7th out of 7)

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Closing

All in all a very nice introduction to the world of GV. There are a few wines that I really liked and whose pricing is adequate. They seem to be perfect food wines which is always a big plus for me. they also have some characteristics that can hardly be reproduced anywhere else or with any other grape, and in this respect they are some kind of curiosity.

Guillaume

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