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by Tom Hill

A self-admitted wine geek, Tom lives in Northern New Mexico and works as a computational physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory doing numerical neutron transport & large scale code development. He has been tasting wines since 1971, participates locally with a couple of large tasting groups in his area, and is practically a fixture at most California wine festivals, such as the Hospice du Rhône, Rhône Rangers, and ZAP. Other interests: Tom is heavily into competitive sport fencing (foil & epee), biking, cooking, basketball, skiing, backpacking, mountain climbing.

Some Gruner Veltliners - January 6, 2010

We tasted tonight (1/6/09) some GrunerVeltliners:

  1. PacherHof GrunerVeltliner DOC: AltoAdige/ValleIsarco (14%) AndreasHuber/Novacella/Varna 2008: Light gold color; attractive spicy/floral rather earthy/minerally/stoney/chalky/terroir-driven slight sawdust fairly attractive nose; quite tart/acid some spicy/floral/mineral/chalk/stoney somewhat rich flavor; long tart spicy/floral rather stoney/minerally/chalky finish; lots of stoney/minerally AltoAdige character w/ only a slight GV character; interesting rendition of GV. $23.00
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  2. Geil Gruner Silvaner Trocken Spatlese BechtheimerGeyserberg (Pradikatswein; A.P.Nr. 4 257 078 11 09;  EB; 13.0%) Weingut Oek.-Rat Johann Geil/Rheinhessen 2008: Light gold color;
    slight sauerkraut rather fragrant/floral/spicy light earthy nose; softer very spicy/floral/muscat-like
    light earthy rather rather lush/rich flavor; quite long lush spicy/floral/muscat-like slight earthy finish;
    no much GV character but a lovely German wine at a great price. $20.00
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  3. Austria Pepper GrunerVeltliner (12%; www.the-dor.At) R&A Pfaff/Steiten 2008: Med.gold color; slight sauerkraut/peppery fairly lush/ripe/floral slight earthy quite attractive/fragrant nose; rather soft/lush peppery/floral/spicy slight earthy attractive flavor; med.long quite peppery light floral/spicy finish; the pepper component really comes to the forefront as it warms; quite a lovely GV at a great price. $16.00
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  4. Loimer GV (12.5%; Dry) Kamptal 2007: Light gold color; strong gout de petrol/spicy/citric/pineapply/ valve oil very perfumed/fragrant nose; soft/lush/ripe gout de petrol/valve oil/pineapply/floral/quince perfumed flavor; very long classic gout de petrol/valve oil quite spicy/floral/pepper slight metallic/tangy finish; lots of gout de petrol character w/ an underlying pepper; great GV for the price. $21.00
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  5. Hiedler GrunerVeltliner Thal/Kamptal Trocken (13%) Langenlois 2003: Med.gold color; lovely floral/spicy slight peppery/gout de petrol/perfumed talc very attractive/fragrant nose; soft/lush/fat spicy/floral bit peppery/earthy somewhat tired bit oxidized flavor; med. floral/spicy slight washed-out/tired bit earthy finish; not a lot of brightness and seems a bit tired & worn-out. Pleasant enough at $17.00
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  6. Nigl Kremser GV (11.5%) Senftenberg/Kremstal 2007: Med.gold color; beautiful/fragrant spicy/floral/mead/ pineapple slight gout de petrol aromatic/complex nose; slight spritz very floral/spicy bit tangy/ grapefruity flavor; med.short spicy/floral light pineapple/honey/mead finish; lovely nose but doesn't deliver a lot on the palate and finishes short. Fairly priced at $22.00
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  7. WeingutBrundlmayer GV Kamptaler Terrassen (12.5%; Gutsabfullung) Langenlois 2007: Light gold color; lovely gout de petrol slight cabbagy/sauerkraut spicy/peppery/floral quite aromatic nose; soft lush/rich light gout de petrol/metallic/peppery spicy/floral slight earthy flavor; long earthy peppery/ floral/spicy slight gout de petrol finish; nedds a few yrs of age; a lovely GV at a very fair price. $25.00
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  8. WeingutBrundlmayer Riedlamm GV Trocken (14%) Kamptal 2001: Med.dark color; beautiful/complex very spicy/ peppery/gout de petrol some honeyed/old German Auslese somewhat piney very perfumed/complex nose; rich/ mouthfilling some piney/gout de petrol very perfumed/complex/old German Auslese quite honeyed beautiful flavor; very long honeyed/old German Auslese somewhat peppery/floral/spicy complex finish; probably the best old GV I've had; should go another 5 yrs or longer; stunning old bones/GV. $35.00
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  9. Hirsch Lamm GrunerVeltliner Kammern/Kamptal trocken (13.5%; www.Weingut-Hirsch.At) 2003: Med.gold color; beautiful floral/spicy/GV bit peppery some gout de petrol/pungent perfumed/complex nose; soft/lush/rich/ ripe very spicy/GV/floral slight peppery near-dry flavor; very long/lingering very spicy/floral/GV slight earthy/peppery rich/lush finish; should age for 10-15 yrs; terrific GV at a good price. $28.00
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  10. DomaneWachau GV Terrassen Federspiel (12.5%; www.FWW.At) Durnstein/Wachau 2007: Med.light gold color; very attractive floral/spicy/GV some earthy slight peppery/gout de petrol nose; pretty dry some earthy/ damp earth/Kansas root cellar attractive floral/spicy/GV slight peppery/gout de petrol somewhat tart flavor; long spicy/floral/GV slight gout de petrol/peppery somewhat earthy finish; not as spicy & floral as the Kamptal but very attractive at the price. $18.00
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  11. Gritsch Axpoint GrunerVeltliner Federspiel (12%; www.WineMonger.com; EB) Mauritiushof/Wachau 2008: Med.gold color; attractive very spicy/floral/GV slight peppery bit earthy/dusty/minerally/stoney some complex nose; soft/lush quite peppery floral/spicy/GV slight minerally/earthy bit fat flavor; very long light peppery very spicy/floral/GV slight earthy finish; bit lacking in structure but a very attractive varietally correct GV at a great price. $18.00
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  12. FranzHirtzberger Spitzer GV Federspiel (12.5%; RotesTor) Spitz/Donau/Wachau 2003: Med.light gold color; rather gout de petrol very spicy/floral/GV slight honeyed/rich/lush complex nose; soft/fat bit dilute/ watery slight floral/GV flavor; med.short soft/fat very light floral/GV finish; very attractive nose but
    doesn't deliver much on the palate. Not worth the $26.00
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  13. RudiPichler GV Federspiel (12.5%) Wosendorf/Wachau 2006: Light gold color; strong floral/spicy/GV some peppery light minerally quite aromatic/perfumed nose; tart bit spritz some spicy/floral/GV light peppery bit dilute/simple flavor; med. light floral/spicy/GV slight minerally bit dilute finish; pleasant enough GV but doesn't deliver on the palate. Not worth $27.00


More made-up stuff from the BloodyPulpit:

1. I was inspired to put together a GV tasting when I stumbled across the first two wines. Never had heard of GV planted in the AltoAdige and never see'd a German version. Both wines were quite good, but showed little GV character...at least as I know it from Austrian versions. Despite the lack of varietal typicity, I liked them quite a lot. So much for worshiping at the altar of typicity.
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2. This was the first time I had put together a bunch of GV's for my group. We have had them before in a sort of hit or miss fashion, but never a whole tableau of them. They were, by & large, a huge hit. And very reasonably priced for great white wines. The white pepper character in many of them made for a more interesting wine than Riesling. Plus many also showed varying degrees of the gout de petrol character which added to their complexity. Based on the '01 Brundlmayer, there's no reason that most of these GV's shouldn't age well for 10 yrs or beyond. A variety I should be paying more attention to; high QPR pretty much accross the board.

It would seem that GV would be a better white grape to pursue in Calif than Albarino, Verdehlo, or
Vermintino. If Calif can't make great Riesling (something I'm not at all convinced of), then maybe GV is the answer to a great Germanic-style white. It will be interesting to see what MikeOfficer/Carlisle does with this grape. And DonSchroeder/SeaSmoke has one ready to go to btl.

TomHill

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