WTN: Great, great Grüner - Nikolaihof '91/Bründlmayer '06

After work I went to a brief, clinical tasting. Where I got to taste a recent arrival available only in the special Alko dedicated to wines: Nikolaihof Grüner Veltliner Vinothek 1991 (Wachau, 12,5% abv, 88,30€). This apparently spent 15 years in cask and was just bottled and released.

The colour is light and even greenish. The nose is red toned (like baked brick!) and spicy, very mineral and incredibly complex - yet tight and extremely young. The palate is also a bit tight still, but though too young, this has layer upon layer of flavour, with high acidity, truckloads of minerals and an unending aftertaste.

This is a wine full of paradoxes: it is elegant and understated yet fullbodied. It is light on its feet - ethereal even - yet very concentrated. This seems to have much to give now, yet I imagine it will have much more to give with more age. But how much more should I age it? On Hugh Johnson's famous scale: buy the vineyard! Unfortunately I don't think I have the money to buy even one bottle.

At dinner I was still emotionally affected by the Nikolaihof so I opened up a humbler, but still very enjoyable, GV to go with my dinner of charred salmon pasta.

Bründlmayer Grüner Veltliner Ried Loiser Berg 2006 (Kamptal, 13,5% abv, 17,30€) is a really enjoyable wine, but utterly different from the Nikolaihof. The nose is very ripe (even a touch over-ripe IMO), but with delectable mineral-water notes. The fruit is mouthfilling and rather up-front and approachable - if the Nikolaihof is some classical Greek statue, this is a friendly, pretty and slightly plump neighbour's girl. The Nikolaihof inspires awe; this Bründlmayer is something that is no more and no less than enormous enjoyment.

-O-

88.30 Euros?

Do you have to purchase through a government agency in Finland?

Or is this a free market price?

88.30 Euros?

Do you have to purchase through a government agency in Finland?

Or is this a free market price?

Alko is a government owned monopoly. And that really sucks. Don't get me started on the topic, please.

Give the Bründlmayer 15 more years in bottle, like the Nikolaihof, and you'll be surprised by how much of that baby fat it's shed.

Otto, Victor is spot-on.

The only problem with Grüner Veltliner is the fact that 2006 definitely is the very best vintage ever for this grape. They simply give soooo much pleasure right now!

Michael, it is good to know that you still look in here from time to time. Would you say that even the sub $20 GV's from 2006 are special and to be purchased before they are all gone? Thanks.

Michael, it is good to know that you still look in here from time to time. Would you say that even the sub $20 GV's from 2006 are special and to be purchased before they are all gone? Thanks.

Bob,
Dale and I have both had the '06 Gobelsburger GV, which typically retails for South of $15, and thought it to be a lovely GV, if in a somewhat riper vein. For my own part, I'm going long on '06 Grüners.

Mark Lipton

Bob, take simply take a look at the label and check the alcohol level. Id' avoid anything up to 12% and be slightly cautious about 12.5%, because chances are higher that an early harvest meant physiologically unripe grapes. 13.0% (and more, of course) most certainly will put you on the safe side.

Btw, from our tasting done two months ago, from 319 GVs a stunning 159 scored 90 and more, 50%, totally unparalleled in the history of our tastings.

A litte statistics:

abv . . . total number of wines . . . number of wines scoring 90 and more

12.0 . . . . . . . . . 19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
12.5 . . . . . . . . . 56 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
13.0 . . . . . . . . . 65 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
13,5 . . . . . . . . . 87 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
14,0+ . . . . . . . . 92 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Take these figures with the proverbial pinch of salt, please, because they somehow reflect the GV market in Austria. Those producers exporting to the US by definition make much better wines than what is average over here.

Thanks Michael. Your abv cautions are duely noted, and I suspect a case of 2006 GV is in my future.

Thanks Michael. Your abv cautions are duely noted, and I suspect a case of 2006 GV is in my future.

Michael, thanks and I am with Bob. My local store is always big on Austria so will keep eye on the new ones/vintage date etc.

A question Victor and Michael, is baby fat and a touch of over-ripeness the same thing? If I sense a touch of over-ripeness will that be corrected with time? These questions I ask more for the sake of learning something rather than for deciding if I want to buy more (as I've drunk through a couple bottles already and know that despite the slight nagging note, my enjoyment of the whole surpasses that slight fault).

Also, how is Gobelsburg's GV Lamm in '06? I liked the '05, but the '06 we have available in very limited amounts (32 bottles in all for sale!!) so I don't think I'll be able to taste to see for myself how it is - I need to make a decision to buy or not now.

-O-

Otto,

I wouldn't much theoretisize over baby fat vs. overripeness with regard to 2006 GV. This vintage is simply completely out of the context of what we have seen within the last 50 or 100 years. It is my deep conviction that everything that tastes enjoyable now will also make old and very old bones — and improve with age.

As to Schloss Gobelsburg Lamm (14.5%), we tasted it in our annual large tasting (note that oak is clearly recognizeable — not my preferred style in dry white wines):

Deutliche Vanille, sauberes Holz, wunderschöner Biss, saftig, klar, blitzsauber und wirklich fein. 92/100

But it's not their best GV offering. Grub ("only" 14%) scored 96 in the same tasting, and came first with a stunning 98 score in a GV tasting (322 wines) two months ago:

Wow! Prachtvolle Farbe, strahlendes Gelb; herrliche Birne, wunderschöne Frucht, herrlich verwoben, ein Glanzlicht. 98/100

As to Schloss Gobelsburg Lamm (14.5%), we tasted it in our annual large tasting (note that oak is clearly recognizeable — not my preferred style in dry white wines)

Oak? In GV? What is the world coming to? Do they use new oak? Or small barrels? Or both?

Hi Michael!

Now I have to ask:
Do you have any concerns about the alcohol levels in the '06 GVs? Some are amazingly high (around 14.5%, like the Lamm that you refered to).

I have the feeling that the Veltliners can take the alcohol quite well (although the level IS a bit high for me) but for the Rieslings, things are kind of out of control. Almost 15% in a Riesling is just unbalanced for me and I could clearly taste the alcohol.

Still, I stacked up with quite a lot of '06 GVs but mostly preferred the "lighter" examples (this does mean 13% and above in '06).

Danke und Grüße, Robert

[Subject corrected — where did the "6" from "'06" go?]

They use large barrels, obviously one or the other new.