Austria Part V

What if a couple of winemakers were up drinking late one night and concocted an idea to create an underground museum to celebrate the making of wine, where tourists would walk through the museum from the perspective of being a grape?

And what if the same two fellows roped architect Steven Holl from New York into designing a hotel for the museum, which he repeatedly refused to design, but after a bunch of wine Steven had sketched the hotel on a cocktail napkin before dawn? Meet the Loisium (loy-zee-um). It’s an interactive tour of wine, a museum of Austrian wine making history and a deluxe ultra modern hotel/spa. I got to stay there for two nights!

Located in Langenlois, Austria, the museum was built first. The problem was that: A) it was underground; invisible to tourists and B) there was no place to stay. So the vision to build a hotel and include the Aveda wine spa came to life. The museum’s welcome center and gift area has no regular windows and not a single 90 degree, true angle. The hotel won a major architectural award for its design. All I can say is you have to see it to believe it.  Mostly concrete with heated floors, the hidden bathroom, and the room service just for your bed comfort are fantastic. You can order a special pillow, a different mattress, various comforters, you name it, they accommodate. The breakfast was outstanding and I found one of my favorite food signs ever on the buffet. 

With Mr. Karl Steininger of Steininger wines as our host, we got to know the late night/early morning crowd at the Loisium both evenings. His long drinking session reputation preceded him and we were warned. The second evening I went to sleep in the low digit morning hours, but several of the group never went to sleep and continued on with Karl tasting each and every barrel of wine in the cellars. Once you have tried your 11th tank of 2008 Gruner Veltliner, it’s a little difficult to taste 

how it is different from the first 10 tanks. These guys weren’t even close to hungover yet. That would come around 3 PM that afternoon once the alcohol wore off.  In time we came to be very fond of the entire Steininger family. There were the daughters Ana, focusing on the red wine production, Eva who focuses on white wines, and Leeza who was the youngest daughter and still learning everything. We met Brigetta, the matriarch and the always jovial Karl. The Steininger estate not only makes great reds and whites, but also focuses on Sekt sparkling wine production in the Champagne method. We were treated to watching the disgorgement process and each of us allowed to finish a bottle of Sekt on the bottling line so that we could take home our very own personal bot

tle. [I hope to finish a video for you in the next month showing the process.] This was followed by a seven course dinner prepared by Brigetta and Leeza with seven different Sekts for each plate. One of my culianary/wine lifetime highlights will forever be the 2006 Sekt Cabernet Rosé paired with smoked trout and horseradish cream.

The family produces their Sekt only in the best of vintages and ages the bubbles for an extended period in the barrel or tank, then on the lees for just 1 year in the bottle. Karl explains that his preference is to “taste the wine in the sparkling wine” and not the yeasty quality. They produce a vintage “Grand Cru” only in magnum and hand sign each bottle. The base wine is aged for four years in 2,000 Liter wood barrels made from local forest wood. At the Loisium bar we must have downed 4 or 5 magnums our first night. I knew it was good, but didn’t realize...

In between our time at the Loisium and the Steiningers, we snuck away to the Wachau region to walk the terraces with Martin Mittelbach of Tegernseerhof estate. It’s wicked cold as we depart the bus and Martin marches us up the hillside into the vines. Seeing the hills, the

 terraces and all the surroundings, we now feel like we have seen both spectrums of Austrian vineyards. From flat to mountainous, this area has traditional stone walls surrounding special vineyards similar to Burgundy, France. Each “clos” carries significant meaning and often a price. This is some of the top Austrian wine in the world all around us. When we drive to the Mittelbach house, we cross the Danube river which has frozen in places. Martin says this hasn’t happened since 1986. We meet the father, Frankl, who now watches over the family operations, along with his mother Dita and sister Eva in a house that was former monastery. Back in 1970 Frankl produced straight forward wines, but today Martin has taken the winery to new heights using spontaneous fermentations, bigger extracts, later harvests and innovative winemaking. The house is set up for us with tasting stations in each room. We are welcomed by tasting single grand cru vineyard wines from various vintages at each stop. As we go around the rooms, Martin tells us about the rainfall that year, how the harvest went, what happened during the fermentation and how he feels the vintage is aging. Tasting white wines from 2001, 2003, etc we are seeing that these austere, minerally whites are just babies, but aging wonderfully.
We sit down for a formal tasting of new vintage wines and eat some of the best bread I have ever had. I can’t stop eating the basket of rolls. Klaus Wittauer is obsessed with a video promoting Austria and he literally comes to tears as we watch it for the fifth or sixth time. I admire his passion for the homeland and the video is great to watch (see below). After a dozen or more wines, it’s time for lunch. In a beautiful setting complete with candles and fine dining catering, under a giant antique wine press, we dine and drink the great Tegernseerhof wines. Martin is young and ambitious. He has brought on an assitant, Annika, to help make wine so he can pursue his ideas in the vineyards. As much as I enjoyed the wines, I am left wondering if customers are ready to pay for a single vineyard “Steinertal” Riesling 2002 from Austria. Baby steps, baby steps. For now we’ll stick to the T26 Gruner Veltliner and his rosé, both coming this spring. - Salamanzar

Austria Part IV

We have an early start at Hillinger with a strudel brunch and obligatory wine. The day starts right off the bus and into the vineyards where it is unholy cold again. There are ice crystals forming on the vines which look like water was misting at some point last night. One of Leo’s vineyards is pure chalk and one is pure shale. Walking the earth we see bits of both under foot. Inside we warm up with a little of Leo’s sparkling Secco which is a dry Pinot Noir Sekt (sparkling wine). The color is a dreamy pink and this is one we have sold back home in Durham very well. The good news? The price is going down and we will now be able to sell this for $15.99 per bottle. A steal when it arrives in March.

Leo regales us with the story of his beginnings and how he eventually built the winery into the hillside. His logo is all caps with the “L” letters backwards in his surname. Apparently this caused quite a stir among his peers at the time. For Leo it’s all about his hills and the play on the name. He makes red wines with the names Small Hill 1, Small Hill 2, and Small Hill 3. When asked why those names he simply replies, “well, I grow the grapes each on their own small hill and I couldn’t come up with a better name than Hill 1, 2 and 3.” Sometimes things are too obvious. I consider a second bowl of goulash, but no one like a goulash glutton.

We have a leisurely morning and then we are off to Wagram to meet Mr. Anton “Tony” Bauer, man of mystery. The winery is a short walk from the main road and we come to a rather subtle cellar as compared to the high fashion wineries we visited so far. The cellar walls have a thick black mold like shag carpet. Visitors have pressed euro coins into the walls for “good luck.” But if you ask me, Tony is saving the Euros to build a new 

winery.  Turns out I was half correct, later at the tasting room, Klaus and Tony roll out architectural drawings for the all new Anton Bauer estate. Needless to say it is grand! We spend some time in the cellars talking and tasting barrel samples of his 2008 vintage wines still working away. It’s dark, shadowy, cold and damp. A

 perfect cellar. Primed and ready, we have a short trip to the Bauer tasting room complete with food of course. We start with a sparkling and work through seventeen wines this afternoon, and that’s after the barrel samples. It’s tough work.  The wines are outstanding and Tony’s work is quickly rising to the top of 

the trip thus far. His wines maintain traditional flavors at times and in others I taste the future. I am completely blindsided by a sample of 2007 Grüner Veltliner, Grande Reserve simply because he has used oak barrel aging! But Tony, you can’t do that! Gruner Veltliner doesn’t come from oak barrels. Are you nuts? That’s like making oaky riesling, or grilling an egg or peanut butter on chopped liver. You just don’t do that. Tony explains that he wants to have a white wine that is “age-able for up to twenty years for his children” and this is how he thinks it should be done. Perhaps it was the twelve wines before it or even the “vineyard effect” of loving every wine because you are standing there,

 but the Grand Reserve was a show stopper. I sat at the table quietly mulling it over and trying to come to terms with a wood aged Gruner Veltliner. If I can like this, I guess I can come to terms with my daughter dating one day. (One day many, many years from now.) We are told the 2007 Grande Reserve was picked as one of the Top Ten wines in all of Austria last year. Tony continues on with the tasting leading us to odd grapes like Syrah, Merlot and Cabernet from Austria! At this point I have to remain open minded and as we taste vintages of his Wagram Cuvée 12 (Zweigelt/Blaufrankish/Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot blend) as it’s the twelfth vintage of course, and the Wagram Reserve (Cab/Syrah/Merlot/Zweigelt blend) I find myself with the same stunned feeling. I am quiet and smiling inside. If anyone asks, I’ll say my glow is the alcohol’s affect. The real test of these wines is yet to come as Tony is taking all of us to Toni Mörwold’s restaurant for dinner. Chef Toni is the “Emeril Lagasse” of Austria, complete with his own TV show and fine dining restaurant. His is a real celebrity and this Sunday night dinner is a special treat just for this group.

As we arrive, we are treated to an Amuse Bouche of baby greens with Foie Gras. And it’s a good thing because my Foie intake on this trip was getting low. Tony Bauer arrives with his beautiful golden retriever named Sammy after his favorite actor Samuel L. Jackson. Sammy even joins us on the floor during dinner. The first course is a foamy Gruner Veltliner cream soup with a cracker thin slice of fried bread floating in the middle. As I finish my bowl I quickly scanned the table to see if anyone was not finishing theirs. No luck. I seriously tried to order 10 gallons to take back to the US, but I am told it won’t make it through customs. This is absolutely one of the best soups I have ever tried and as much as I love soup, rarely do I rave about the dish. The 2004, 2005 and 2006 vintages of the Gruner Veltliner Grande Reserve are served beside the soup. Yes, they are still oaky, and yes the wines are a perfect match for this dish. I am in awe. Not only are they great, but the 2004 (the oldest vintage) is the perfect wine at this moment. I still can’t believe it. [I have ordered some Grande Reserve to arrive in March. I think Craig thought I was crazy for ordering an expensive, oak-aged Gruner. We’ll see what he says when he tastes it this spring. I could be in big trouble. Please be sure to try this one out, there will be very little available.] We are told the meal is halting for a special break and asked to leave the room. As we file into the adjoining banquet room, we see it is a makeshift movie theater. Tony Bauer debuts his newest short film called “Private Selection.” Tony made the film just for fun and to show off his rarest of all wines. You can watch the movie here.

The film was a blast and we return to the dining room where they are treating us to magnums of the legendary Private Selection at the table. I didn’t actually think we would get to taste it. The entrée arrives and we dig into Venison ragout with bread dumpling and lingonberry sauce. 

It’s like an Austrian Thanksgiving. The Wagram Reserve is served in multi vintage as well and all of them were drinking beautifully. I am a newcomer to Tony Bauer’s wines but now I have seen the future and this guy is going to help put Austrian wine on the tips of wine drinker’s tongues around the world one day. (photo above shows Tony Bauer, Toni Morwold and Klaus Wittauer after dinner)

Next stop, the Loisium hotel. - Salamanzar

(thanks to Doug D. and Karen M. for letting me use a photo or two)

Austria Part III

Arriving at the Steindorfer winery in Burgenland we share a brief stop and tasting.  Modest in scope and size, but clearly of the highest quality, Steindorfer is run by Ernst Steindorfer, a master of dessert style wines. Because of his close proximity to lake Neusiedl and its moisture, the vineyards are easily susceptible to noble rot or botrytis.  This is a mold which covers the grapes and sucks out the moisture leaving sugars behind. If you saw the grapes on the vine you would say, “yuck, those are rotten,” but the wine made from such grapes can be one of the most powerful and often costly wines produced.  His best friend and winemaking companion was non other than Alois Kracher, who sadly passed away last year at the young age of 48.  The Kracher dessert wines are legendary and far beyond my drinking budget.  It turns out that some of those legendary wines were actually made here at Steindorfer and aged in these pristine cellars.  Ernst continues on with the dessert wine honor.  You could eat off the floors and if you spilled a drop of his dessert wine, you just might consider licking it up.

Klaus handles the translation from Ernst as we take a quick look around the winery, aging cellar, the tanks and see a stainless steel tank fitted with a stirring mechanism to keep the lees (sediment in a wine and yeast cells) moving during the aging process.  Stirring the lees adds richness to the finished bottle and a distinct character.  The group is ready for more wine and we start with his dry whites. The Chardonnay we sample is a proud moment for Ernst as he claims it is being compared to the finest of white Burgundy.  All his dry wines, white and red, are excellent, but we are anticipating the sweet stuff and finally the traditional tall, thin 375 ml bottles emerge.  We work through them with ooohs and aaaahs.  It’s tough to spit these, so I force myself to swallow the tastes justifying that I have worked hard today and could use a little reward this time.  The excitement in the group grows with each opened bottle, then the talk of Steindorfer’s “best wine he ever made” starts up.   Klaus is egging him on and we join in. Finally Ernst either felt generous, or the wine was kicking in, but he goes to the cellar and emerges with his 1991 Trockenbeeren Auslese (TBA), the claimed "best ever."  The color is a deep amber and pours from the bottles like a watery version of maple syrup. I am practically intoxicated just by smelling the aroma. I take a picture through the glass with the label behind the bottle. A fine finish to our visit at Steindorfer.

The day is not over, oh no, the night is just beginning when we arrive at Leo Hillinger’s winery for an introduction, tour and dinner. This is just the start. The real tastings will take place tomorrow.  We arrive at an ultra fancy shmancy modern looking winery established by Leo Hillinger, former super-model and now wine maker/wine fashion superstar.  If anyone knows how to build a brand, it’s Leo.  With things like the Hillinger name everywhere from the entrance to the floor of the winery, to the continually running video loop of Leo projected on the wall, to the slick black hats, several hundred dollar Hillinger jackets, you name it, Leo is creating it with his name on it. Leo is opening Hillinger wine shops in Europe and wants to have one in NY as well. Several women in the group nearly faint when they first see Leo in real life. Sure has more hair than me, it’s blonde and he is tall, square jawed, thin and owns a top winery, but really does he deserve all the gawking?  It must be tough for him.  By the way he is married with two beautiful children.

We visit an underground cellar with rows of shiny stainless steel tanks, then retreat to the barrel room for even more rows of oak barrels. The barrel tasting is a blast and we get to spit the wine on the floor!  Always a treat and I feel like a little kid breaking the rules.  The floor will later be washed down by the oompa loompas or some sort of mystery crew that must come out late at night to shine the joint.  The tasting room has a glass wall looking out over the vineyards behind the hill.

Leo tells us his story of risking it all with a bank loan and starting out on his own. I admire the man. He had a vision, would not compromise on quality and took a big gamble. He still hints at the tenuous nature of all that he does and of being at the mercy of mother nature every harvest. We can tease him about the glamour aspect of his winery and its presentation, but clearly the wine is quality while he can smile all the way to the bank.  Leo is focused on building the Hillinger brand.  

We move back upstairs to the tasting room for a catered three course dinner.  The entrée has a side of applesauce with shredded horseradish.  I can't get enough of the stuff.  By thirds, or was it fourths?, I was really feeling my sinuses cleared out and the "wasabi snorts" kicking in.  Good stuff, sweet and spicy.  The actual meal takes about 45 minutes, then the consumption began.  I think we left around midnight or 1 AM.  Not sure, but by the end we had empty magnums of wine lining the table.  Half the group goes out to the Safari club.  Don't ask, but if you are ever in town and want to meet the locals, ask about the Safari. We'll be back tomorrow to learn more. 

- Salamanzar

Austria Part II

Christian’s white whale forges onward to our afternoon stop at Michlits/Meinklang winery. The winery is actually named Michlits, or is it Meinklang? I don’t know why, but in the US the name has to be altered to Michlits for distribution.  The winery is ultra modern looking, but uses all natural materials.  As we approach the flat, winter brown fields I have no warning that my life is about to be changed forever.

"Graupert" is German for sort of uncombed hair. It was explained that as a little kid, if you came to the breakfast table, your grandmother would say you were looking “graupert” and you needed to comb your hair to look presentable. Werner Jr. takes us into the vineyards to see his Graupert Pinot Gris vines. There’s really no way to explain this other than someone has let their hedges grow wild. We are just east of lake Neusiedl, very close to the Hungarian border. The land is very, very flat and this is clearly not what we usually picture for vineyard country. In fact, Werner Jr. explains that winds swoop down into this flat plain and create havoc on the farms in giant gusts and actually drown people in the shallow Neusiedl lake as surprise 

waves topple boats. Between rows of perfectly manicured vines on both sides, the Graupert vineyard stands out like a punk rock spiked mohawk on the set to Leave it Beaver. In a deep spiritual moment with his vines, Werner Jr. thought that if he lets the vines go wild, eventually they will become self-limiting and reduce the stress of pruning each year which was hurting the vines. Essentially, if left to grow wild the grapes will be better. And you know what? It’s working. The vines unkempt look are criticized by his neighbors and he is accused of being lazy. In fact, last year some locals set fire to part of the Graupert vineyard to make their point. The proof is in the bottle and the Meinklangs remain committed. And, there is talk of letting all their vines grow Graupert style. Oy, the potential bonfire! You will see some Graupert Pinot Gris coming to Wine Authorities this spring.

Meinklang farm is a fantastic story. Post WWII, the family estate was in ruins and as borders with Hungary moved back and forth, the parents, Annalies and Werner Sr., made the decision to move forward and plant fields while working around the bombed out roads and the bomb craters in the fields, not knowing if tomorrow they would lose everything. At this time grapes were not the main product. About ten years ago the father converted the farm to complete biodynamic agriculture using Rudolf Steiner’s teachings, and embraced the philosophy of creating a complete interdependent closed cycle farm. They grow about 8 types of grains - wheat, barley, rice, spelt, etc., they brew really, really good craft beer, they maintain a herd of 300 Angus cows, they raise the rare Mangalitza pig breed, they make wine of course, and they make cider from their Topaz variety apple orchards. All this ag

riculture and children running around growing up on the farm paints a Rockwell-esque picture. With each family member taking on specific responsibilities, the farm is complete and each area is dependent on the next. This family, the parents, the three sons, their wives and the grandchildren, are organic, natural, down to earth, and clearly have found their happy place. There is an energy and a harmony in the air. You can taste it. Okay, I am ready to start packing the bags.

We visit the winery and get a fantastic explanation of what biodynamic farming is. I plan to release a video of this in the future showing Werner with his cow horns and manure in the cellar. We see the horns which are packed with manure and aged before being mixed with water to spread in the fields. The farmers refer to this stuff as “magic poo.”

We head underground to the wine tasting room and sit among the giant concrete eggs. The tasting starts with a frizzante style pinot noir rosé. This lightly bubbly, a touch off-dry, pink wine was actually first made for Werner and Angela’s wedding. We meet Angela and find out she is the actual winemaker in the family and appropriately named as she is a winemaking angel. Her wines are lovely across the table. All show balance and character. She greets us briefly before having to run off and chase their two young daughters who are peaking at us through the glass ceiling from their house above ground.  As the tasting moves forward we are treated to a selection of sausages made from the farm’s Angus beef and from their wonderful fatty Mangalitza pigs. I can’t stop eating. The center of the plate has a tub of rendered pork fat, which looks like hummus, and is spreadable like butter on bread. A little goes a long way. The Meinklang Gruner Veltliner is a stand out and absolutely atypical in style. They say other Austrian regions laugh about the thought of Gruner in this area, but the lip-smacking acidity and gulps of fruit are just right for me. I’ll take Gruner from Burgenland any day.

As we sit at this long, large table for 20 people, we are surrounded by giant concrete eggs. These eggs are wine tanks and I can’t help but feel like we are in a scene somewhere between Aliens and Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The egg shape fits the 

"perfect mean" or "Phi" from Leonardo Fibonacci. Werner’s explanation details the concrete’s micro pores and as the wine ages in the egg, there are microscopic level oxygen exchanges which work the wine slower than using a wood barrel. In additional chemical chains form in the wine which get heavy and fall downward, forcing the wine to churn slowly up the sides of the egg to the top and fall back into the center, a sort of natural convection type movement. Using the eggs, they have learned that very little sulphur dioxide is needed as compared to their other wine making techniques. We taste the “Konkret St. Laurent,” and this is the best St. Laurent wine I have ever had, hands down. I am a believer. They started with a couple of eggs and now the winery looks like a chicken coop. The good news is that you can adopt an egg for just 3,000 Euros which gets you 2 cases of wine per year from your egg, over 10 years. That’s a deal!
I leave feeling like I need to put in a job application. I’ll take just about any job to be a part of this family farm. It speaks to my soul. The bus ride is quiet all they way to the the next winery. I clutch my Meinklang micro brew and savor every sip. Can we replicate this in Durham? Someone is probably ahead of me already. Meinklang will become a great addition to our store. They fit right in with us. Steindorfer winery awaits the whale’s arrival. - Salamanzar

(Thanks to Karen M. for letting me use a couple of her great photos in this posting.)

Day One in Austria

I’m outside the NH hotel across the street from the Vienna airport. It’s Saturday morning 9 AM and Klaus comes up to me with his charismatic big smile and a firm handshake. I think he says hello in Austrian (German) and I confess, I really don’t understand what he is saying to me. His disarming smile and hurry up let’s go attitude set the tone for the next four days. We have lots to cover and the work will be fun. I climb aboard a luxury tour bus and meet my spiritual wine brothers and sisters for the journey. We will pretty much be eating and drinking together day and night until Wednesday.

The trip to Austria is an entirely different set up. The group totals about fifteen in a combination of wine buyers of some sort, such as retailers and restauranteurs, and a few wine wholesalers who represent Klaus’ wines in Virginia.  This trip was organized by Klaus Wittauer and his company, KW Selections. Klaus was born in Austria and worked in the restaurant industry before coming to the import and wholesale business. He represents eight Austrian wineries and soon he will be bringing two additional properties (more to come later in the story) to the US market.

Our bus driver, Christian, speaks no English and this is his fourth trip with Klaus touring Austrian wineries. In time we get to know Christian and even with the language barrier, he is a nice guy and clearly a talented driver as he guides our behemoth through small passes and around mountain vineyards. Christian lands the great white whale at our first stop, Netzl winery in Burgenland.  

Netzl is one of the two new producers coming to the US and truly a family business. Franz and his wife Christine along with their two daughters, 

Christina and Anna Marie, run the estate. Franz greets us with Christina acting as translator and his presence carries gravitas. With a dark fedora style hat and big black bushy mustache, his hands are large and rough, clearly those of a working farmer. With two young daughters, I feel for their boyfriends having to meet this man before a date. Netzl owns 25 ha of vineyards with the red variety Zweigelt (ˈsvī-gehlt) being his most important. I am amazed at how flat the vineyards are in the area with no mountains in sight and rows of vines in open fields, easy to see. We take a tour through the vineyard to see his vines and discuss the pruning. And, no the weather is not any warmer in Austria as we stand on the frozen ground looking at the vines for about 30 minutes. The plus side to this deep freeze for Germany and Austria is that some of the bug populations will be reduced naturally. Some farmers had joked that if the warm winters continued, soon you would see scorpions around the vines!

The tasting commences in the winery’s tasting room with its glass windows overlooking the vines. The style of Netzl is clearly more modern and international. The reds enjoy a good bathing in oak and their top bottlings are intended to compete on the international market employing a high alcohol, oaky, fruit bomb approach. We taste traditional Austrian varietals like Gruner Veltliner and Zweigelt, but also get a dose of Cabernet, Merlot and Syrah.  My reaction favors their white wines and the traditional varietals for Austria vs. the heavy handed international blends. One of the hits at the tasting is a dryish rosé called Rosanna. It’s a play on “rosé” and the daughter’s name “Anna.” This is definitely on our list to bring to Durham for Spring 2009.

We work through a dozen or so bottles and then we get our first goulash! The Hungarian influence is felt throughout the trip with many variations on this dish for lunch at the wineries. I can’t help but think there is a business opportunity back home. Goulash in a cup? A mobile goulash truck similar to the taco trucks of Durham? Why isn’t anyone doing that back home?

Lunch is enhanced by “getting to know you” conversation as the group sits and we tell our wine life stories and where we are from. Once again wine brings people together. The group is made up of wine veterans and neo-oenophiles, with some having been on this exact wine trip multiple times. We have a Virginia journalist for a small paper and wine shop employee writing a travel/leisure style piece about Austrian wine. We have two young wine buyers from a large retail grocery chain on the east coast and a specialty department buyer for wine and cheese in a separate chain. The table is complemented on the restaurant side by Chef Bret Jennings of Elaine’s in Chapel Hill and a woman sommelier from a fine dining restaurant in Virginia. The overall group is a great one and fortunately we don’t have any knuckle-heads on this trip. All of us can tell at least one story of an inappropriate traveler on one of these trips who came because they thought it was drink-fest. No, this trip we all have our pens, notebooks, cameras and lots of questions firing away all day long. After lunch we head to Michlits/Meinklang winery to see “the eggs.” -Salamanzar

Germany Wrap Up

Final Thoughts on Germany: At work I keep an audio clip on the computer from Mel Brook’s Young Frankenstein. Okay, it’s on all my computers. It’s the one where Gene Wilder and Teri Garr discuss the giant size of Frankenstein and she says, “he would have an enormous schwanstucker.” I have Googled this word, schwanstucker, several times to see if it’s real.  So, while in Germany, I randomly polled local people asking them if they knew the word schwanstucker. Hmmph. Not a single person knew this word. Such are the things that keep me up at night.

Attached is a slide show of nearly 200 photos from the trip.  Just in case you had absolutely nothing to do with your day today.

Leaving Germany, I am in awe.  Boy are those vineyards steep.   The German market clearly enjoys very dry white wines, yet they are convinced that our domestic US market is not ready for these. Even at my insistence, they explain that every time they bring their road show to the US, they include a few dry examples and no one buys. I can’t blame the winemakers, they are trying. German wines have come so far and yet they are still stuck in our retail. We struggle with this daily at work. I recommend a German Riesling to go with a dish, and the customer has a frown followed by, “but I don’t like sweet wines.” Sometimes even at my near begging to trust me, the wine is dry; the customer refuses to try that bottle. Germany is clearly plagued by the self-fulfilling prophecy. A restaurant assumes the Riesling drinker wants a sweet wine, so they put a sweet wine on the list by the glass. A customer hears that Riesling can be dry, so they order the Riesling and wham, sure enough it’s sweet. Rarely do the dry ones make it to the limelight. We are devoted to Riesling at Wine Authorities and almost always feature dry versions.  I often say that if I were on a desert island, a dry riesling would be a good candidate for my only wine.

The “international dry” level means mostly dry. Most of us would taste these wines and say they are pretty much dry vs. sweet. More and more German labels are carrying the term Feinherb for such wines. It’s not quite trocken (dry), but not halb-trocken (off-dry). Derek likes to use the Feinherb translation as “fine dry finish.” You’ll be seeing several Feinherb Rieslings arriving this spring to Wine Authorities.

German red wines are about to explode on the market. Or are they? The quality I was tasting from the red grapes Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir), Dornfelder, and St. Laurent was outstanding. Whether it’s global warming or better winemaking, the reds are coming on strong. But is the market ready? Again, the consumer assumes Germany makes only white wines. We have had good luck with selling Dr. Heyden’s Pinot Noir and will continue to bring great wines to our customers even if they are less well known from a region or country. 

Frank Heyden told me that the entire EU is banning the use of copper sulfate in vineyards farming organically.  The catalyst was due to some regions, particularly Bordeaux, having used excessive amounts to combat fungal disease and loaded their soils with copper. However, most organic farmers use the bare minimum necessary and are rarely worry about high levels. So, any farmer certified organic within the last two years is not allowed to purchase copper sulfate. Certified farmers for more than two years, have an opportunity to purchase as much as they want before the ban takes place and use up their copper sulfate for as long as it takes and still maintain their status. So, farmers are buying years worth of the stuff in giant drums. Currently there is no alternative option as a fungicide. Frank said some studies using milk spraying were attempted and the farmers lost all their grapes to fungus.

I heard several producers mention a movement away from the glass top, Vinolock. These can get knocked in transit and the seal breaks. Stelvin is still in favor, but many makers are concerned about the age ability of a wine in screw top. The research is still coming. This Diam cork (real cork and plastic combined) may be a solution for those who insist on a cork closure. The absolute best closure is the crown cap, i.e. beer cap, but can you imagine the outrage to that on a $30 bottle of wine?

I want to thank Derek Vinnicombe for being my host and driving me all over Germany to visit his estates and for his patience with my many hundreds of questions. I also want to thank the winemakers I met, often in their private homes sitting at their dinner table, who showed me great hospitality, generosity and wonderful wines. I am very committed to sharing the quality and value German wines have to offer our customers in Durham.


Next stop, Österreich (Austria), specifically Wien (Vienna). Thanks for continuing to read. 

-Salamanzar

Germany & Austria Part V

Germany & Austria Part V: Confession here, I have too much to say and have had to spread three days of Germany over 5, maybe even 6 blog entries. So I will no longer date the entries, but just label them as parts. Okay, I feel better now.

In retrospect, the recent snow fall has made my education about the region easier. As we drive along the rivers, the snow blankets the vineyards in an even bed of white fuzz. Occasionally we see a completely snowless plot, as if someone tooka hair dryer to the picture and melted a perfect rectangle shape among the vines. When I inquire about the bare land, it is inevitably one the more famous and usually more costly vineyards in the area. The lack of snow reinforces the idea that a vineyard has better sun exposure and perhaps more rock/slate to warm by day thus continue 

reflecting the warmth by night. These things are often talked about when discussing great vineyards and the vine’s ability to ripen the fruit. The pictures here show snow covered land and then the famous Doctor vineyard in Bernkastle behind the church, see? No snow.

The last three wineries Derek and I visit are FK Schmitt, Paul Anheuser and Molitor.

We drive the busy roadway along the Rhein river in the city of Nierstein and arrive at the FK Schmit estate in Rheinhessen. It looks just like the label on the bottles, and Franz Karl Schmitt explains the house was built in 1925 post WWII. You may have enjoyed his 2007 Weissherbst (Rosé) this year, especially at Thanksgiving and I am happy to let you know the 2008 is in tank, clarifying right now and will be bottled in two weeks.

We sit in a small parlor with the wine samples and his cat watching from a room across the hall. Franz Karl talks of his vineyards being on “the red slope” referring to the red decomposing rock we see along the river. This red rock is the primary reason we love Rheinhessen’s acidity. He also produces wines from the grand cru vineyard, Niersteiner Hipping. We taste the 2007 Hipping and it is truly excellent, although a bit backwards at this very early stage of life. I look forward to retasting this wine down the road. We work through just six wines, and I have my highest “buy” ratio, preferring 5 of the 6 wines as possible vintages for the store. In fairness, the sixth was a 1997 vintage bottle, no longer available for purchase, but to show me how his wines age.

FK is a big fan of Diam cork. This brand is a blend from 70% natural cork chopped up like a minced onion and 30% plastic pressed under high heat to form the cork shape. It is guaranteed to be bacteria free and therefore no cork taint can occur to the wine. FK is losing faith in the plastic Nomacorc because he says after about 5 years the plastic corks are loosing resiliency and becoming loose in the bottle necks. Before we leave, FK asks me for a recommendation in bottling his 2008 Hipping vineyard Spätlese. I am sort of awestruck as I think, who am I to tell YOU what to do. The question is, how much of the 2008 vintage should he bottle as a truly dry wine and how much to bottle with some residual sweetness? Alert, here come the politics of wine! Here’s a look behind the curtain of the great and powerful Oz.  FK wants to know what I have heard from the US press regarding the 2008 German vintage. Winemakers have to make critical decisions, sometimes not based on the wines, but on simple economics and I can’t blame him. He has to pay his bills. Germans prefer truly trocken (dry) wines. I mean really dry. Surprised? And the rest of the world, i.e. the US being the usual reference, says they want dry, but actually the wines with some residual sugar are preferred. (I continue to blame this on a little blue Nun) The Germans refer to this type of dry as “International Dry.” FK has to make a decision at bottling where if the press is loving the 2008 vintage, then he will need to bottle much more of this wine with some “süss-reserve” or a bit of unfermented auslese grape juice to take the dryness out to meet the export demand. If the press pans the vintage, he will have to sell the majority of his wines at home and they will need to be very dry. What a gamble! I’d hate to be in his shoes. So I politely say that I haven’t heard much about 2008 from the press yet. The truth is that I haven’t. In the car I am lost in thought about this economically driven decisions a winemarker is forced to deal make which have nothing to do with quality or their personal preference. I guess if cream soups sell better, the chef has to keep the cream of broccoli on the menu.

***

Into the Nahe we drive toward Paul Anheuser’s estate. 

We sit in a very cold, old home and taste through loads of wine with Paul, his mother Dorothee and his baby son and next generation,  Jakob. I have to keep my jacket across my legs to stay warm and slowly nudge my chair back from the table toward the barely luke warm radiator behind me. I am sort of curious why no one else is shivering today.  Must be my thinned NC blood.

As we visit 12 wines on the table today, I am treated to new vintages of his Scheurebe, which we religiously sell in Durham and a fantastic Gewurztraminer. I can’t wait to see these back home 

this spring. The estate was established in 1627 with vines, farm agriculture and forest. At one time they ran over 1,000 ha, but today a much more manageable 30 ha are maintained. One of the oddity highlights of the entire trip is the Anheuser, Blanc de Noir Fineherb. This is a dry white table wine made from Pinot Noir!  No skin contact leaves the color out and the result is an outstanding dry white that will surely become a 

best seller at Wine Authorities later this year.  Paul and his mom treat us to some afternoon coffee, cake and wine. I have the apple strudel type thing and want to try the Amaretto and chocolate, but have to pace myself.

***

The final German leg takes me to the Rheingau region to visit the Molitor estate. Klaus Molitor is on a ski holiday, so we are treated to the company of his father and mother Rosel & Karl Molitor. Karl is a hunter and we sit in the tasting area surrounded by more horns, tusks and creepy grinning stuffed animals than I am used to. 

The 2007 vintage in the Rheingau was challenging. Many farmers were fearful of rains coming and ruining the vintage, so they picked early, too early, leaving too much acid and unripe flavors in their wines. Molitor, waiting until late October for physiological ripeness, achieved great flavors and balanced wines. It was risky, but worked. One of the tasting highlights is a Riesling Trocken, Edition René. I am hoping we can bring this to the US market exclusively.

That night, Derek and I have our last meal together and I have the best Schnitzel to date. The server says there is a sauce on top and I figure

this will do just fine. I guess I missed the word Béarnaise in her German accent, something I would normally pass on for health reasons. I am treated to the most juicy pork cutlet with sautéed onions and ham, smothered in tarragon herbed Hollandaise sauce. My cholesterol surely shot up 100 points that night and Derek politely watched me all but lick the plate.

Derek drops me back in Frankfurt at the airport, and I leave for Austria that evening.

  -Salamanzar