WTNs: "Top" red blends from Austria

Yesterday I attended a very interesting tasting of the "top" red blends from Austria. Only brief notes will follow, because, sadly, the wines were made in a uniform style. Though I will inevitably sound a bit rude, the style can only be called modern, uniform dull anonymity.




We started with a blind fizz, however. Salon 1990 label was apparently a strange, slightly off bottle in being so strongly oxidative. But despite that, I found it very enjoyable: I don't mind bruised apple aromas. It was strongly red fruited and quite rich and round and un-crisp so I thought it was a Pinot-dominated Champagne.

Then we tried the reds, half-blind or single blind or whatever the currently favoured term is.

Feiler-Artinger "1006" 2000 - Cab Sauv & Merlot; Rust, Neusiedlersee-Hügelland; label; c.30€
A loamy, dark fruit scent, lots of oak - but sadly, this was among the less oaky wines tonight. Juicy, good structure, full bodied. Very rich style, reminds me of "modern" Bordeaux.

Feiler-Artinger "Solitaire" 2003 - Blaufränkisch, Cab Sauv, Zweigelt, Merlot; Rust, Neusiedlersee-Hügelland; c.30€; label
Much oak, a touch of stink, again very much like a hot year "modern" Bordeaux in style: thick, rich, smooth. Turns more acidic and red fruited with air. Improved very much and the oak went more into the background with air.

Gernot & Heike Heinrich "Gabarinza" 2006 - Zweigelt, Blaufränkisch, Merlot; Gols, Neusiedlersee; c. 35€; label
A strong Barrique aroma; strong, rich, full bodied, dark fruit. Good acid. But apart from the lovely levels of acidity, I didn't find much interest here.

Iby "Quintus Eva" 2006 - Blaufränkisch & Zweigelt; Horitschon, Mittelburgenland; c.30+€; label
This was one of the better wines this evening, since despite the oaky and rich style it also had a lovely perfume of peach. The fruit, also, seemed brighter and more fresh than in the other, dark wines. It was still rich and oaky, however. Decent structure. Though this was one of my favourites in the tasting, I still wouldn't buy it for myself.

Juris "Ina'Mera" 2001 - Cab Suave, Merlot, Blaufränkisch; Gols, Neusiedlersee; c.30€; label
At first smoky and so smooth and suave as to be anonymous; gets some peachy personality with air. Rich, dark fruit, sweet and ripe.

Juris "Wolfsjäger" 2004 - Zweigelt, Blaufränkisch; Gols, Neusiedlersee; c.30€; label
Quite possibly the weirdest wine of the evening: a ringer for Chilean Cab IMO with cassis, jam and rhubarb sharpness. Dense, sweet and alcoholic. A fruit bomb.

Kollwentz "Steinzeiler" 2005 - Blaufränkisch, Cab Sauv, Zweigelt; Gosshöflein, Neusiedlersee-Hügelland; c.40€; label
Woody, glossy, international in style. Tight, too tannic and extracted, alcoholic. The finish was so fiery I thought I had drunk jalopeño juice.

Nittnaus "Comondor" 2001 - Merlot, Cab Sauv; Gols, Neusiedlersee; c. 35+€; label
Corked.

Pöckl "Rêve de Jeunesse" 2007 - Merlot, Zweigelt, Cab Sauv & Syrah; Mönchhof, Neusiedlersee; c.40€; label
Dark and inky; very tannic and extracted, too powerful and drying to be enjoyable.

Pöckl "Admiral" 2007 - Zweigelt, Merlot, Cab Sauv; Mönchhof, Neusiedlersee; c.35€; label
Very much like the previous except more milk chocolate/oak aromas and less extraction so this, I imagine, will be very pleasing for some palates. A well made but anonymous and international wine.

Schuster "CMB" 2006 - Cab Suave, Merlot, Blaufränkisch; St. Margarethen, Neusiedlersee-Hügelland; c.30€; label
Another of my favourites because this was aromatic and peachy (though, yes, it was also suave, oaky and rich and dark). It became very perfumed, rather like an oolong tea, with air. Juicy but well structured. Decent stuff.

Ernst Triebaumer "Maulwurf" 2007 - Blaufränkisch, Merlot, Cab Sauv; Rust, Neusiedlersee-Hügelland; c.20€; label
Perfectly anonymous, Barrique aromas, very reductive - as one taster said, it is like a Garagise St. Emilion. Very fruity, thick, but also tart. Unbalanced IMO.

Umathum "Heideboden" 2004 - Zweigelt, Blaufränkisch, Cab Sauv; Frauenkirchen, Neusiedlersee; c.20€
Another of my favourites tonight: sweet and dark and scorched, but at least this is aromatic and open and perfumed and, though not a wine in a style I appreciate, at least I can comprehend its charms. Sweet and soft, a bit soft, perhaps a touch hot on the finish; like an Ozzie Grenache.

Pöckl "Mystique" 2007 - Zweigelt and Blaufränkisch mostly with a bit of Cab Sauv, Merlot and Syrah probably mixed in - but Pöckl took the info with him into his grave (RIP) in January; the price is a silly c.200€ (yes, two zeros after the two); Mönchhof, Neusiedlersee; label
Dark, dense, oaky, un-aromatic, un-charming; juicy fruit but woefully over-extracted and tannic. Nothing charming about this. This is great wine if you like wood - the taste and texture and hardness of it. In fact, wood seems a bit soft for this wine. Nails? Diamonds? Nanorods?

Gernot & Heike Heinrich "Salzberg" 2006 - Merlot 50%, Blaufränkisch 30% & Zweigelt 20%; c. 50+€; label
28 months in Barrique of which 70% was new, yet what is a scary is that this was among the less oaky wines of the evening. Sweet and concentrated, liqueur-like; thick, sweet and ripe, good structure, though. Finishes fresh.

Gerhard Just "Rust" TBA 2004 - Welschriesling; Rust; c.16€; label
Fresh and citric despite the botrytis; good acid, rich and super-sweet but fresh. IIRC this has something like 230g/l RS, yet after these reds, this was a very refreshing drop.


After the tasting, a few of us went and shared a bottle of Clouet Champagne Millesimé 1995 which was a really nice, refreshing drop: quite a bready, red toned, floral nose, seems to me to have quite a bit of Pinot (though with my guess with the Salon, don't trust me!). Crisp, elegant, low dosage(?). Nice stuff.

Hi Otto -

Thank you for the notes. I am not an expert on Austrian reds, but am not surprised that you found a lot of the "top" reds very oaky. Last fall, I bought Phillipp Blom's book The Wines of Austria, and many of the red blends that he wrote about sounded like they had a lot of new oak.

At any rate, I liked Feiler-Artinger's Ruster Ausbruch Pinot Cuvée in the past. Any chance that you have had their basic Blaufränkisch? I remember seeing that while traveling a few years ago, and regret not buying a bottle to try.

The Gerhard Just TBA sounds great!

It wonders me that you find a lot of these wines dull. Especially when I see you had Salzberg 06, CMB 06, Solitaire 03 and lots of other middle class Austrians. If you have some more 07's keep them up for another 4/5 years and try them again. Especially Admiral 07. Unfortunately your Comondor corked. One of my favourite Austrian reds. Try to get your hands on a 06er.
Thanks for the notes!

It wonders me that you find a lot of these wines dull. Especially when I see you had Salzberg 06, CMB 06, Solitaire 03 and lots of other middle class Austrians.

What do you mean by 'middle class'? Is that damning with faint praise? (I.E. they're average wines). The rest of your post seems to suggest you think they're upper class wines.

It wonders me that you find a lot of these wines dull. Especially when I see you had Salzberg 06, CMB 06, Solitaire 03 and lots of other middle class Austrians. If you have some more 07's keep them up for another 4/5 years and try them again. Especially Admiral 07. Unfortunately your Comondor corked. One of my favourite Austrian reds. Try to get your hands on a 06er.
Thanks for the notes!

Tastes differ, of course, but It seems to me as if a lot of Austrian reds are still floundering in the big oak fashion which, I hope, is in retreat elsewhere. Another thing I notice in Otto's line-up is high prices; nothing below €30. Even allowing for the Finnish premium, that is pretentious.

My own sip and spit experience of up-market Austrian reds, including Moric, broadly bears out Otto's impressions here but I have enjoyed quite a few entry level Blaufränkisch, St.Laurent and Zweigelt. What a pity to spoil such promising raw material .

Whites are a different matter.

At any rate, I liked Feiler-Artinger's Ruster Ausbruch Pinot Cuvée in the past. Any chance that you have had their basic Blaufränkisch? I remember seeing that while traveling a few years ago, and regret not buying a bottle to try.

I haven't had those. The only other red from F-A I have had was a 2007 Pinot Noir Gertberg, of which I wrote Feb 2010: This smells more of hot chocolate than wine. Lovely, lively acidity, but otherwise it was completely marred by oak.


Unfortunately no Finnish premium in these prices: this what they cost at the winery!

It wonders me that you find a lot of these wines dull. Especially when I see you had Salzberg 06, CMB 06, Solitaire 03 and lots of other middle class Austrians.

What do you mean by 'middle class'? Is that damning with faint praise? (I.E. they're average wines). The rest of your post seems to suggest you think they're upper class wines.

I meant middle class from the price range in Austria. Quality reds go from around € 5 up to € 50 (vineyard prices) A lot of these wines are about the best you're gonna get from Austrian soil.
It's true that a lot of wineries use too much oak for their wines, but thank god that's changing at the moment. Theres still a lot of experimenting to in Austrian wineries. Moric for instance only exists since 2001 and Roland Velich used to make white wines at his parents/brothers winery.

The last few years you can see the soil getting more importance again. Especially with the blaufränkisch grape. Pinot noir is coming up as well.