Important Update From the Founder Read message >

Occasional tasting group: Top Austria

@ JdZ

Tasted April 15, 2007 by Zweder with 466 views

Introduction

All wines were tasted blind.

Flight 1 (2 notes)

White
2005 Weingut Knoll Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Vinothekfüllung Austria, Niederösterreich, Wachau
89 points
Spicy and some clove in the bouquet. Little fat, apple acidity. Firm bitterness. Minerals. Full bodied and even a little sticky. Good wine. Still much too young.
White
2003 F.X. Pichler Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Ried Kellerberg Austria, Niederösterreich, Wachau
87 points
Still young. Boiled vegetables in the bouquet. Full bodied, butter and a little melon. Fat and a little sweetness in the aftertaste. Good wine, but lacks elegance at the moment.

Flight 2 (2 notes)

White
2004 Franz Hirtzberger Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Honivogl Austria, Niederösterreich, Wachau
90 points
Honey and spicy in the bouquet. Pleasant start with a hint of sweetness. But the wine is good dry with good acidity, grapes and a little orange in the taste. Good bitterness in the long aftertaste. What impresses me most is the good concentration and the good acidity. Beautiful wine.
White
2004 Weingut Willi Bründlmayer Grüner Veltliner Lamm Austria, Niederösterreich, Kamptal
89 points
Flowers in the very inviting bouquet. Fresh good acidity with a little pineapple, white fruits and firm bitter. Long fresh aftertaste. Very good and pure wine in which there is a lot to discover.

Flight 3 (2 notes)

White
1991 Nikolaihof Grüner Veltliner Vinothek Austria, Niederösterreich, Wachau
92 points
This is what I call a sniff wine. Something new to discover every 5 minutes. At first just a little petrol, later almonds. Full bodied, round, butter, good candy acidity, refinement and bitterness. Very long aftertaste with butter candy. A beautiful complex wine. Surprisingly youthful for a wine that is 16 years old. I was impressed, but not everybody agreed with me.
White
1993 Freie Weingärtner Wachau / Domäne Wachau Riesling Smaragd Achleiten Austria, Niederösterreich, Wachau
84 points
Dark yellow. Some petrol and minerals like flint stone in the bouquet. Clearly green apple in the taste, but not as green as Granny Smith. Some citrus as well. Light acidity and very light bitterness. The aftertaste is medium and not very convincing. Although a very pleasant wine, it misses some complexity and is possibly a little too old.

Flight 4 (2 notes)

White
2003 F.X. Pichler Riesling Smaragd Ried Kellerberg Austria, Niederösterreich, Wachau
86 points
In the bouquet a beautiful bouquet of flowers. My first impression was that this tasted like a very well made Edelzwicker from the Alsace. This might not sound as a compliment, but it was meant to be just that. Tasting this wine I saw myself sitting in Colmar (Capital of Alsace) on a terrace surrounded by flowers…and that is a happy feeling. Good concentration, butter, freshness and a lot of sweet impressions. Has a long aftertaste with some sweetness. A great wine to enjoy on a terrace on a hot summer day. Seeing the CT scores for this wine of other vintages my score is quite low. I cannot explain it. Love the wine, but it lacks complexity at the moment imho.
White
2003 Weingut Knoll Riesling Smaragd Ried Schütt Austria, Niederösterreich, Wachau
89 points
Flowers and apples in the bouquet. This comes back in the taste together with pleasant fresh acidity. The finish is a little drying with a hint of sweetness.

Flight 5 (2 notes)

White
2004 Franz Hirtzberger Riesling Smaragd Singerriedel Austria, Niederösterreich, Wachau
89 points
Flowers and honey in the bouquet. Frivolous in the taste with flowers, tasteful acidity, soft sweet apple and litchi. A lovely wine.
White
2004 Prager Riesling Smaragd Wachstum Bodenstein Austria, Niederösterreich, Wachau
87 points
Interesting bouquet with a hint of prunes, apricots, tropical fruits and minerals like flint stone. Concentrated, very dry and very firm acidity. A very straight forward wine. It might well be that this wine is just too young to judge (by me, because I lack experience with this kind of wines.) but I score it anyway. Just to see what happens in case I taste this wine another moment in the future.

Flight 6 (2 notes)

Red
2003 Heinrich Pannobile Austria, Burgenland
84 points
Purple red. Fruit in the bouquet. Mainly cherries and prunes. A little yoghurt also. A lot of (yoghurt) acidity and black currents in the taste as well. Firm and fresh wine, but I am not impressed.
Red
2002 Umathum Ried Hallebühl Austria, Burgenland, Neusiedlersee
87 points
Light purple red. In the bouquet ripe dark fruits, ink and oak. The taste is fruity with dark chocolate and a little toasted oak. Firm and juicy wine.

Flight 7 (2 notes)

Red
2002 Weingut Josef Pöckl Admiral Austria, Burgenland, Neusiedlersee
87 points
Blood red with a little purple. Nice complex smoky bouquet with leather, blackberry juice and iodine. The taste offers concentrated black current juice, ink, a fair amount of bitterness and a lot of sticky tannin. A little sweetness in the aftertaste. Good and firm juicy wine.
Red
2002 Heinrich Gabarinza Austria, Burgenland
88 points
Blood red with a little purple. Black currants, chocolate and leather in the bouquet. Concentrated black currant juice, sweet liquorice, good oak and soft tannin. Long and fruity aftertaste.

Flight 8 (2 notes)

Red
2000 Heinrich Salzberg Austria, Burgenland, Neusiedlersee
90 points
Dark red purple. Complex bouquet with a little barnyard, brushwood, coffee, dark plums and chocolate. Dark chocolate, bitter, sweetness lead pencil and soft sticky tannin in the taste. Long aftertaste with blackberries. Concentrated complex wine.
1 person found this helpful Comment
Red
1998 Umathum Haideboden Austria, Burgenland, Neusiedlersee
89 points
Red with a garnet rim. Expressive nice and complex bouquet with leather and good oak. Juicy fruit in the taste, oak and acidity. A fair amount of tannin. Good wine.

Flight 9 (2 notes)

White - Sweet/Dessert
2003 Graf Hardegg Riesling Eiswein Austria, Niederösterreich, Weinviertel
87 points
Currents and raisins in the bouquet. Soft white chocolate, apple syrup, peach, apricot marmalade. Fair amount of acidity in the background. Enormously sweet, also in the aftertaste. A little burnt taste in the end. Lacks elegance.
White - Sweet/Dessert
2000 Weingut Willi Bründlmayer Grüner Veltliner Beerenauslese Käferberg Austria, Niederösterreich, Kamptal
90 points
Honey and apricots in the bouquet. Botrytis, full bodied, round, spicy, honey. Reminds me of the beautiful concentrated grapy taste the late harvest Pinot Gris wines from the Alsace can have. Good refinement.
1 person found this helpful Comment

Flight 10 (2 notes)

White - Sweet/Dessert
1999 Alois Kracher TBA #3 Chardonnay Welschriesling Nouvelle Vague Austria, Burgenland, Neusiedlersee
89 points
Golden yellow. Botrytis. Apricot marmalade. Pineapple as well. Enormously concentrated. Good sweetness/acidity balance.
White - Sweet/Dessert
2000 Alois Kracher Scheurebe TBA #9 Zwischen den Seen Austria, Burgenland, Neusiedlersee
89 points
Golden yellow. Flowers and muscatel in the bouquet. Enormously concentrated syrup with also flowers and muscatel in the taste.

Flight 11 (3 notes)

White - Sweet/Dessert
1995 Alois Kracher Scheurebe TBA #4 Zwischen den Seen Austria, Burgenland, Neusiedlersee
90 points
Golden yellow. Oxidised and a little like sherry in the bouquet. A lot of caramel in the taste. Very good balance between sweetness and acidity.
Red - Sweet/Dessert
1999 Willi Opitz Zweigelt Opitz One Austria, Burgenland, Neusiedlersee
Light red. Enormously currents in the bouquet. The taste is a combination of rosehip marmalade and concentrated strawberry juice. A strange but not unpleasant wine. Very special! No score.
White - Sparkling
2002 Weingut Willi Bründlmayer Sekt Brut Austria, Niederösterreich, Kamptal
87 points
Gooseberry, minerals, nicely dry, good and refreshing acidity and some pleasant bitterness in the finish.
© 2003-24 CellarTracker! LLC.

Report a Problem

Close