How did you first learn about Grüner Veltliner?

<table align="right" valign="top"><tr><td><img src="http://www.avenuevine.com/movabletype/archives/Gruner-Veltliner-w.jpg" border="1" align="left"></td></tr></table>Austria's signature white grape, Grüner Veltliner, seems to be garnering a lot of interest these days, and it's visible here in our community too. Personally I have long had sympathies towards Austrian wines - well, not that long, but at least as long as I've been into wine, which is a decade already.

My first experience with varietal GV was in the form of a general listing item at the LCBO quite a few years ago. I had read somewhere in passing that there was this white grape that had a green-bean/white-pepper aromatic profile, and I was intrigued by that. I tried a few but the first examples were rather neutral. Still, I persisted and began seeking out the wines whenever they'd appear at the fine-wine division of the LCBO, known as Vintages.

Nowadays I always seek out GV when shopping at Vintages. It seems that the wines have become somewhat pricey too; demand has been piqued and now the established wine world is talking about the variety. As much as I tend to favour obscure/underrated grape varieties, and as much as I don't look forward to the steep price hikes that are likely to overtake GV due to the already small availability of the wines, I am still happy that more people are discovering this Central European variety. Central Europe is blessed with many native viniferas that make fine wines and that offer more than the "same-ol' same-ol'" internationalized makeup.

Well, I must have read about it when I was in my period of most intense wine studies in the '80s. Mostly, at that time, it was not quite valued as the quality grape it is nowadays.
Cheers, Anders

I learned about it here.

Have tried several. The ones available down here are, as you say, somewhat neutral. Acidic, dry but almost totally lacking in any character beyond that. Couple that to the rising price, I rarely search them out any longer.

Richard

Wine seminar with Andrea Robinson, reinforced by a long discussion with a guy from Austria during dinner at Balthazar following the seminar.

[David M. Bueker]

Peter Tryba (then of Yankee Spirits, now at Marty's) handed me a bottle of 1995 Brundlmayer Gruner Veltliner Alte Reben.

Game over!

[James Roscoe]

I learned about it here. Someone suggested it went with spicey foods. I had a bottle with some Thai food. As David says, "Game over."

Dirty magazines.

Canada, or, more specifially, a visit to Inniskillin c. 1987 or so.
The first gruner I ever had or heard about.

And David, so Peter hands you bottles too, eh? Whenever I was in Marty's or Yankee asking about anything interesting he would walk you over to a rack and pick up a bottle to hand to you.

Dirty magazines.

Wouldn't that be Beaucastel

We were looking for fondue friendly wines for a wine club meeting, and when one of the members went looking for a Swiss Chasselas, the clerk at Trader Joe's recommended the Gruner in lieu.

[David M. Bueker]

And David, so Peter hands you bottles too, eh? Whenever I was in Marty's or Yankee asking about anything interesting he would walk you over to a rack and pick up a bottle to hand to you.

Yep! Got me hooked on Gruner, as well as Donnhoff, Muller-Catoir, Chevillon, Mont-Olivet, etc.

Bastard! It's his fault I'm broke.

About 10 years ago, on alt.food.wine. Only tried a couple, they were hard to find. Then it became trendy 6-7 years ago, with advice from Michael Pronay on AFW and from Chambers St, I got hooked,

(edited for clarity)

Peter Tryba (then of Yankee Spirits, now at Marty's) handed me a bottle of 1995 Brundlmayer Gruner Veltliner Alte Reben.

Game over!

Damn, me too! Peter Tryba, the man who could KICK open a wooden Bordeaux case...is he still at Marty's? Amazing character.

I had seen the name in print a couple of times but until SF Joe showed up with a bottle at an offline in SF I had never tasted one. Yes, many years ago SF Joe actually lived in SF, not NY. From the very beginning Joe drank the very best of Austria. I was so impressed with what I tasted that I stocked a few cases into our store in SO CA. The wines did not sell at all, and my partners seeing as how much I liked them thought I should purchase them back from the store and place them in my cellar. I still have a few bottles of that 97 vintage in my cellar. I still love the wines and drink them on a regular basis. For many years the running joke was "where is the best place to buy Austrian wines= the bargain bin at Lou's store.

A Wu-Tang Clan CD.

I also have a slight objection to the form of the answer options provided. What if I had heard about it for the first time at some point in 1998m from friends, on the old, tan WLDG?

But seriously, I like to think that I first learned about Grüner Veltliner from Nietzsche's final letters and that whole "What I would give for a glass of veltliner..."

[quote="Manuel Camblor"

But seriously, I like to think that I first learned about Grüner Veltliner from Nietzsche's final letters and that whole "What I would give for a glass of veltliner..."[/quote]

"What I would give for a glass of veltliner and if its does not kill me it will make me stronger?" Is that how it goes? Long time ago!

I don't remember how I first heard of it. I do remember trying a couple and being unimpressed. Then I read somewhere that Gobelsburger was really good. I happened to see it in Ithaca and bought a bottle. Wow! Then I tried Nigl on the recommendation of a friend and it too was terrific.

Prices seem all over the place though and not much related to quality, at least within the price range I buy.

Dan

Update (3/17/07): The "somewhere" I read about Gobelsbuger must have been here. I did a Search and found that it was mentioned on WLDG more than a dozen times over the past year or so.

Different books, Lou. In fact, I forgot to mention that those "Last Letters" are said to be fakes, perhaps the doing of Nietzsche's sister, or someone. Long time since I actually was a scholar of such things.

[David M. Bueker]

Yes, Peter is still at Marty's. And he's still a different kind of guy.

A few years back, visiting my mothers family in Basle Suisse. Niece was all agog about a new white wine she had just purchased, she was spot on!!! Rabl

Nice Poll!

The first GV I ever tasted was from Emmerich Knoll a few years ago. My love of German Riesling prompted me to expolre other mineral-driven whites, so GV was a natural. Now it accounts for a large percentage of my disposable income. I can always take refuge in that it's still cheaper than anything domestic worth drinking.

Can't really remember, but the internet probably had something to do with it.

From Thomas when he had his store. Haven't had one since. Rather hard to find in these parts.

The wines did not sell at all, and my partners seeing as how much I liked them thought I should purchase them back from the store and place them in my cellar.

Lou, it seems to me that so often this is the case - certain wines (or even other products) of exceptional quality simply never catch on and are left to languish someplace. Quality doesn't always sell, even though it would appear logical that it always should. But then again so many products today are designed to the lowest common denominator ... I constantly think back to Mike B.'s apt phrase, "aggressive mediocrity".