i-WineReview.com

• Report 25: Wines of Austria, 1/1/2011 (link)

  (Sattler St. Laurent Neusiedlersee) Subscribe to see review text.

RJonWine.com

• By Richard Jennings
  6/27/2011 (link) 88 points

  (Sattler St. Laurent) Medium dark ruby color; red plum, berry, apricot nose; tart red plum, currant, apricot palate; medium-plus finish 88+ points

Terry Theise Estate Selections

• By Terry Theise
  2011 Austrian Catalog, 5/1/2011 (link)

  (Sattler St. Laurent) ($22.00) Three days’ bottled when I saw it, but its juicy velvety texture was lovely and the sweet plum fruit gives a forthright tasty wine with substance and discretion. Though the texture is almost creamy, the quality of fruit is dry and leans in the Mourvedre direction. I had a jar of some truffle goop and wanted to make use of it. Then I thought of Bouloud’s black-truffle and foie burger, and I thought I too can be decadent, so we got some ground veal and made us some slutty patties with the truffle stuff, and just to totally gild the lily we stuffed a pat of Dartagnan black truffle butter in the middle of each, tomelt as the burgers cooked. Oh yeah baby, it tastes as good as it sounds – and the wine to drink with it is precisely, absolutely specifically and particularly a “basic” St. Laurent, assuming you can’t find a decent basic Chorey-Les-Beaune, or would rather pay half its price. The bigger “reserve” St. Laurent would have too much fruit, and maybe oak would show, and these wicked little burgers don’t need all that mojo – they have their own. What they need is a yummy wine that knows how to be a straight-man and let the food get the laughs. We’re all insanely busy stretching towards the stellar; we really got to rawk the carafe, but if I stand for anything in this lil’ wine-life of mine, it is to insist we learn to cherish wines of modesty. It will make us more kind. It will help us understand the beauty of the humble. It will save us money! I have a fantasy that somewhere up on a stage, some international wine mega-star, Guigal comes to mind, is getting a big ostentatious trophy for attaining an average “score” of 98.3 points for his $300+ wines, but back in the big general tasting they’re cleaning up, and a guy approaches some Rhône grower whose $12 Cotes-du-Rhône gave him pleasure, and he says to the grower, “Thank you for this wine, it makes me happy.” No question in my mind where I’d rather be, and who I’d rather be.