Sampling the new releases of a younger generation of Austrian winemakers. Sophisticated wines for cosmopolitan tastes and international foods. They are getting it right.
Austria: Tegernseerhof, Bauer, Hillinger, Steindrofer
Since meeting some of the young generation of Austrian winemakers a couple of years ago I’ve kept an eye on the wines of that country. Even in this brief period I’ve sensed improvements in the quality of the wines overall and I’ve observed a greater awareness of Austrian wines in New York City and here on the East End.
Quite a few restaurants and an increasing number of wine stores carry gruner veltliner, a dry white wine that is currently defining Austrian style. But that is only part of the story. White grapes more familiar to the American consumer—chardonnay, riesling and sauvignon blanc—are showing up more frequently with Austrian labels. Austria has also been known over the years for sweet wines, although they are less familiar to most of us than the important French Sauternes. And the red wines of Austria are just beginning to register on the radar of American wine buyers.
I spent a few days recently talking about and sampling Austrian wines with Klaus Wittauer, who lives in the United States and is a major importer of the wines of his native country. The best gruner veltliners come from the Wachau, where the grape is grown on dramatic hillside terraces, and Kremstal, both along the Danube, as well as neighboring Kamptal. Stone walls retain the heat of the sun after dark and provide an ideal climate for this grape to properly mature. Tegernseerhof produces several of the best gruner veltliners I have come across. The winery has been in the hands of the Mittlebach family for many generations. I don’t know what exactly they did in the past for the local market, but today, under the direction of Martin Mittlebach, they are making sophisticated wines that are right on target for international tastes and contemporary foods. Like many other wines now being exported from Austria, they have an Old World pedigree but a New World sensibility.
Young gruner veltliner is generally a bright, fresh wine with citrus qualities and peppery notes and strong mineral underpinnings. Those are the qualities I look for and enjoy in an everyday wine. But tasting a 2003 Tegernseerhof, I realized it can go beyond that lovely simplicity and can taste as refined and powerful as an important white Burgundy, even though they derive from different grapes. A premium gruner veltliner definitely has some aging potential. Current Tegernseerhof releases range in price from about $22 to $37. Look for a large “T” on the label of newer releases.
Riesling also thrives in Austria and can take on many different qualities according to where it is grown and how it is fermented and aged. Austrian rieslings bare little resemblance to German rieslings. Alsace would be a better comparison. Anton Bauer, another young Austrian, makes a supple, dry, surprisingly layered riesling that really satisfies. The Bauer Reserve sells for $19.
Red grapes are not grown along the Danube, but if you travel to the southeast corner of this country, near the Hungarian border, the climate and typography lend themselves to a different viticulture. Hillinger, a wine producer in this area, makes a superb zweigelt, concentrated, dark, mellow, and balanced with both fruit and structure. With its cherry aroma and medium body it occasionally resembles a well made merlot but you’d be smarter to enjoy it for what it is rather than try to categorize it. The wine sells for $17.
Austria has a centuries’ old tradition of producing sweet wines from grapes affected by botrytis (the noble rot) and also ice wines, where the grapes are harvested after freezing on the vine. I tasted an ice wine (Cuvee Klaus, $30) from Steindorfer, a noted producer. I found it sweet, honeyed and intense, with lively acid, and nice scents of peach and pineapple. Austrian sweet wines tend to be less expensive than their German and French counterparts and offer some engaging choices to enjoy with or after dessert.
