2005 Nikolaihof Grüner Veltliner Hefeabzug Wachau Austria. 11.5% Alcohol. Chambers Street Wines NY. $22.99. Terry Theise Estate Selection. Imported by Michael Skurnik, New York. Demeter Certified Bio Dynamic Produce. Cork Screw. Lyle/Asimov Bottle.
Lovely pale yellowish white color, clear hue, intense aroma of flowers and citrus fruit, complex tastes of citrus, spices, hints of earth and minerals, medium mouth feel, excellent acidity in perfect harmony with the fruit, long finish with . Great with left over pasta, even better sipping and dreaming. Robin Garr has a neat descriptor of the overall sense: "It illustrates the old Austrian wine joke about "drinking rocks." 4*+.
Notes:
WLP, Robin Garr: That odd term on the label, which appears to be an unpronounceable "Hefeabxng," is actually German for "yeast aged" or, in the somewhat more familar French terminology, "sur lie," indicating that the wine is kept for an extended time on its "lees" or spent yeast, a flavor-boosting technique more familiar in Muscadet on the Loire than the Wachau on the Danube. The bottle also carries the red logo of Demeter International, an organization that certifies "biodynamic" producers, an extreme version of organic agriculture. In short, it's a very unusual wine ... and a very good one, from the winery said to be the Wachau's oldest.
http://www.nikolaihof.at/ "The Saahs family operates in accordance with the regulations of the Demeter Association, one of the strictest control systems of organic agriculture. Its principles may be very roughly summed up as follows: to get as much power and energy as possible into the wine whilst interfering with nature as little as possible. In the Nikolaihof vineyards no herbicides, pesticides, artificial fertilisers nor synthetic sprays are used, but stinging nettle manure, valerian drops, valerian tea and other specially produced preparations, which are applied in highly diluted form like homeopathic medicines, are used. The whole farm or enterprise must be run along biodynamic guidelines. Regular state inspections ensure that these working principles are properly applied. The biodynamic wine estate is regulated through the Austrian wine code, the Austrian foodstuffs codex and the EU directive ‘Ecological Agriculture'.
The Moon also has its Part to Play
For planting and harvesting times the Saahs family refers to the moon calendar – a sort of tightrope balancing act between sensible measures and the esoteric, as Christine Saahs admits.
Anders Källberg: While I don't want to be a "Messerschmidt", I just can't stop myself from trying to spread the word about the correct way to pronounce the Veltliner part of Grüner Veltliner. To make sure I have not got it wrong, I double checked my previous knowledge with an Austrian co-worker of mine, whose father is a wine grower in Wachau. He left it absolutely no doubt that it is pronounced "velt-leener", not "felt-leener" as one might believe, if one knows something about how to pronounce German words. The reason for this diverging pronounciation is, again according to my Austrian colleague, that Veltliner is not a word of German origin. It is rather the same word as "Valtellina", the Italian (wine) district. One should not be fooled to believe that the grape is of Italian origin, though. Grüner Veltliner is believed to have originated in Austria. Theere is, however, another rather rare grape called Roter (red) Veltliner, that might have come from Valtellina.
So, let's try to use the correct way when talking about this interesting grape. I refrain, however, from trying to describe in writing how to pronounce "Grüner"... Wink
Grüss Gott!