We tasted ystrday at Pig+Fig a bunch of Danch&Granger white wines:
1. Andert-Wein Rulander (12.5%; www.Andert-Wein.At; 5 days skin-contact & 9 mo. in barrel; D&G; Demeter) Andert-Wein/Amhagen/Weinland/Austria 2021: Burnished bronze/some garnet rather cloudy color; quite earthy/loamy strong VM/phenolic/resiny lightly floral/PG/aromatic/rose petal very aromatic nose; rather tart/tangy/bit metallic strong VM/phenolic/skin-contact/resiny bit off-dry slight floral/PG fairly austere/bit tannic flavor; very long strong VM/phenolic rather astere/tannic finish; not much fruit & dominated by the VM character & not much pleasure to taste; may develop w/ btl age, though. $ (VB)
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2. Andert-Wein Pamhogna Weiss Weinland/Austria (12.5%; Demeter; Pinot Gris/Neuburger/Welschriesling/Pinot Blanc/Chardonnay; 5-8 days on skins) Ahagen/Weinland/Austria 2021: Med.gold very cloudy/hazy color; some VM/phenolic/resiny some floral/PG/white pepper fairly attractive nose; rather tart/tangy/bit metallic fairly strong VM/phenolic/resiny light PG/floral/carnations flavor w/ light tannic austere flavor; rather more PG fruit than thye Rulander/PG but still pretty dominated by the VM character
$ (VB)
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3. Andert-Wein G'mischter Sotz (11%; Demeter; Welschriesling/Pinot Gris/Gruner Veltliner/Chardonnay/Fruhroter Veltliner; 4 days skin contact; D&G) Amhagen/Weinland/Austria 2021: Med.gold/burnished bronze rather hazy color; fairly strong VM/phenolic/resiny light floral/PG/carnations some complex bit austere nose; rather tart/tangy bit tannic/hard mostly VM/phenolic slight floral/carnations fairly austere flavor w/ modest hard tannins; not a whole lot of fruit & dominated by the VM/phenolic character. $ (VB)
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4. Andert-Wein Anadjucka GrunerVeltliner Weinland/Austria (11%; Demeter; 10 days skin-contact) Amhagen/Weinland/Austria 2021: Same burnished bronze/gold rather hazy color; strong mostly VM/phenolic/resiny some classic GV/white pepper/floral much more perfume somewhat attractive nose; lightly tart bit off-dry strong VM/phenolic more floral/GV/white pepper/carnations somewhat complex flavor w/ light tannic bite; has much more floral fruit in nose & palate but still dominated by the VM chgaracter; my favorite of these four. $ (VB)
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5. Geyerhof Riesling Ried Johannisberg Kremstal/Austria (13.0%; 50-70 yr old vines; 0.6% r.s.; D&G) Geyerhof/Oberfucha/Austria 2019: Med.gold color; beautiful floral/R/mango/pineapple/intense quite spicy some petrol/Mosel valve oil some complex very perfumed rather German Mosel/R nose; lightly tart very rich/lush slightly off-dry intense pure/R/floral/mango/pineapple slightly petrol bit complex beautiful pure R flavor; very long/lingering intense R/floral/mango/pineapple slight petrol slightly off-dry very rich/lush finish; a very pure/rich Smaargd-level of R w/ lots of pure R fruit but should age well for 5-10 yrs; beautiful expression of R. $ (VB)
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6. Geyerhof GrunerVeltliner Ried Hoher Rain/Kremstal (12.5%; www.Geyerhof.At; 0.4% r.s.; D&G) Geyerhof/Familie Maier/Oberfucha/Kremstal/Austria 2021: Light yellow/gold color; lovely fairly intense classic white pepper/GV/spicy/floral/gardenias quite aromatic beautiful nose; lightly tart bit off-dry very rich/lush classic GV/gardenias/floral/spicy/peppery slight chalky very intense perfumed flavor beautiful GV flavor; very long/lingering rich/luss/slightly off-dry intense floral/gardenias/GV finish that goes on&on; a beautiful Smaargd-level expression of GV that should age for 5-10 yrs. $ (VB)
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7. Weingut Edgar Brutler Drum Bun Sec Transylvania/Romania (11.0%; U; www.Brutler.com; Fetească Regală grape; D&G) Weingut Edgar Brutler/Belting/Romania 2021: Med.dark gold color; very strong rather musky/earthy some floral/pungent/hollyhocks/marigolds slight mineral slightly coarse some complex rather interesting nose; lightly tart rather musky/earthy bit off-dry/rich slight metallic strong floral/pungent/marigolds bit coarse/earthy rather complex flavor; very long/lingering some floral/marigolds/hoollyhocks bit coarse/musky fairly complex finish; not a lot of floral/high-toned character and a very interesting rather musky/pungent/earthy character; quite an exotic white.$ (VB)
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8. Weingut Edgar Brutler Grunspitz (12.0%; U; Grünspitz grape; D&G) Beltiug/Romania 2021: Med.dark gold color w/ lots of tiny bubbles that slowely dissapate; very strong very spicy floral/dandelions/quite spicy very aromatic rather complex quite exotic nose; bit soft slightly off-dry/rich/lush slight spritz bit coarse/musky rather floral/dandelions/bit pungent slight tangy/metallic very exotic flavor; very long/lingering slight musky/earthy rather aromatic/floral/dandelions very exotic finish; quite an interesting/exotic wine w/ not a lot of high-toned character; fascinating wine & very good w/ sort of an od-timey/bit rustic character. $ (VB)
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9. Weingut Johanes Trapl Karpatenschiefer GrunerVeltliner (10.5%; www.Johannestrapl.com; Amphoren Wein; Danch & Granger) Trapl/Stixneusiedl/Carnuntum/Austria 2020: Deep gold color; very strong floral/carnations/dandelions/bit pungent slight steely/metallic quite perfumey rather atypical GV/exotic nose; bit soft slightly off-dry rather rich/lush some floral/dandelions/pungent/spicy/bit musky very exotic complex flavor; very long bit soft off-dry rather floral/dandelions/musky/pungent rather exotic finish; a rich/lush bit musky/old-timey rather exotic white that's a rather unusual expression of GV; lacks the usual high-toned character of GV but quite an interesting wine. $ (VB)
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10. Maurer Karom Serbia (11.6%; www.Maurer.Rs; D&G; 30% Bakator/28% Szeremi zold/39% Mezes Feher/3% Tamjanika) Iren Maurer/Maurer-Bor/Hajdukovo/Serbia 2020: Med.gold color w/ lots of bubbles; very strong floral/dandelions/zinnias/bit pungent bit spicy/nutmeg slight metallic very exotic nose; bit soft/rich/lush slightly off-dry quite floral/dandelions/carnations/slight musky some complex rather exotic flavor; another very exotic slightly musky/old timey quite perfumey white w/ not a lot of high-toned character. $ (VB)
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11. Herrenhof Lamprecht Furmint von Sandstein (12.0%; www.Herrenhof.Net; www.Buchertberg.com; D&G) Gottfried Lamprecht/Pollan/Steirerland/Austria 2020: Med.yellow color; classic stony/chalky/Furmint/bit perfumed talc light floral/carnations/perfumed very attractive classic Furmint nose; bit soft rather rich/lush strong stony/chalky/mineral/Furmint lightly floral/carnations bit structured bit complex flavor; very long slightly soft bit off-dry lightly floral/carnations rather stony/earthy/perfumed talc/bit mineral bit complex finish; shows classic stont Furmint character but not quite as steely/austere as many dry Furmints; quite a lovely expression of Furmint.
$ (VB)
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12. Pfneiszl Zefir Hungary (10.5%; Zefir grape; Skin-Contact; 10 days of maceration; D&G) Pfneiszl Hungarian Vnyds/Sopron/Hungary 2021: Med.light yellow color; very intense floral/carnations/gardenias very perfumed talc very high-toned perfumey almost Muscat-like quite exotic nose; lightly tart very floral/carnations/gardenias very perfumed talc some hair-oil/GWT-like quite spicy very exotic flavor w/ slight bitterness; very long/lingering very spicy/perfumed talc very floral/gardenias almost GWT-like/hair oil flinish; a highly perfumed very exotic white that reminds some of GWT, a bit of Muscat; beautiful white. $ (VB)
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More tilerfrack from TheBloodyPulpit:
1. BlueDanube Imprts used to have an impressive portfolio of interesting Austrian wines. When it became Danch&Granger under new ownership, it vastly expanded its portfolio of wines from Central Europe & now has a very interesting book. They can longer sell DTC, so I put together 2 cs from their portfolio & cleared it thru Dan at Vintage Berkeley. These are a bunch of their whites we had at Pig+Fig ystrday.
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2. The Andert wnry is hard by the Neusiedlersee right on the Hungarian border. They are dead-center in the natural wine movement. Yet none of the wines showed any unclean or natty character. All four were made as VM/skin-contact wines. The VM dominated, to varying degrees, all 4 of these wines. Thus, they were not very much pleasure to taste at this young age. I suspect they will develop, though, into very interesting mature VM with 5-10 yrs of age. All were labeled on the WebSite as 0.1% r.s. But I noticed a hint of r.s. in several of them, so that number is a bit suspect.
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3. Geyerhof is a wnry located in the Kremstal region NW of Wien. Both of these wines were very impressive and the best of this collection. They reminded me a lot of the Ingrid Groiss wines but a bit more richness. Beautiful wines & the best of this collection.
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3. Brutler: This is D&G first Romanian producer. Located in the far NW corner of Romania, hard by the Hungarian border. Romania got a very bad reputation for their cheap wines when CocaCola imported the Premiat wines for the Monsieur Henri Selection. The wines were cheap & pretty dreadful. Since Premiat, we almost never see any Romanian wines in the US Market. I hope that changes. These wines are made from varieties I'm not familiar with. But I was pretty impressed by Edgar's wine & plan to try more of them. What goes w/ Transylvania wines?? Why blood sausage, of course (sorry...couldn't resist).
Grunspitz is a new grape for me. It used to be a workhorse grape in Transylvania but pretty much neared extinction. Edgar's grandfather kept a small plot of his Grunspitz vnyd alive & this is now one of only 2 Grunspitz vnyds in the World.
Clearly, a grape variety that should be being planted all up&down the Coast of Calif.
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4. Johannes Trapl: My first experience w/ this producer. It was a rather exotic/unusual expression of GV. Macerated for 60-90 days in large Georgian above ground Qvervi, it showed no signs of VM/phenolic character whatsoeve. Quite an unusual expression of GV.
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5. Zefir: Here's a totally new grape to me. It is a cross developed in 1951 in Hungary under the Communist regime. It is usually used as a blending grape and thiis Pfneisl is the only 100% Zefir imported into the USofA. DNA has not identified either one of its parents. This Pfeneisl wnry is located in the Burgenland on the Southern end of the NeusiedlerSee but the grapes come from near Sopron in Hungary.
I was pretty impressed with wine because of its aromatics. Clearly, a grape veriety they should be planting all up&down the Coast of Calif.
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6. This tasting of Whites from Danch & Granger was a very exciting tasting & greatly expanded my horizons. They have an impressive portfolio & I managed to hit a lot of good ones w/ my rather haphazard selection. Furthermore, I have not even started exploring their very extensive portfolio from Hungary. Some of my favorite people.
Tom