Consider the very green grüner veltliner for spring drinking
Austria’s wines have a distinct identity, and grüner veltliner is the country’s most widely planted grape by far. This example features the quality of smelling and tasting more savory than sweet.
Pfaffl “Vom Haus” Grüner Veltliner Neiderösterreich, Austria
$12.99 12.5% alcohol
PLCB Item # 83518
Sale price through April 6 — regularly $14.99
Many wine drinkers assume that Austrian wines taste like German wines, simply because these countries share a border and a common language. However, Austria’s wines have their own distinctive identity, which is driven by two factors: One is the unique geography of Austria’s wine regions, which surround Vienna in the country’s east. The other factor is Austria’s unusual degree of reliance on its own native grapes, which have tongue-twisty names like grüner veltliner, zweigelt, and blaufränkisch. These varieties are suited to Austria’s cool and continental climate, but might remain unfamiliar to Americans since they are rarely planted elsewhere.
Austria produces more white wine than red; grüner veltliner is the country’s most widely planted grape by far. The name translates to “the green grape from Veltlin,” and its wines feature a recognizably green flavor profile, reminiscent of green pears and celery leaves. Grüner veltliner can be made in a wide range of styles, but most are reliably midweight, dry, and unoaked.
These wines appeal to fans of pinot grigio, sauvignon blanc, and albariño, as well as sharing sensibilities with classy French Chardonnays, like Macon-Villages or Chablis. This example is made in Neiderösterreich, or lower Austria, a region north and west of Vienna that borders both Czechia and Slovakia.
It is the “house wine” of a respected vintner, made in a fun and fruit-forward style. Even so, the wine features the distinctive grüner veltliner quality of smelling and tasting more savory than sweet, like a crunchy spring salad made with shaved celery and fresh pears topped with a faint dusting of white pepper.
Also available at:
Total Wine & More in Cherry Hill, $16.99, totalwine.com