New Release...von Strasser Gruner Veltliner

WINE TALK
1

Rudy is well known for his Diamond Mountain Cabs and blends…of which I am a big fan. Looks like now he is releasing a miniscule amount of '08 GV to maling list folks. From the email:

“Although still very limited, this 2008 vintage is the first vintage from which I have enough wine to release in any meaningful way to the market. I bottled a total of 62 cases of this wonderful elixir and am hereby making it available to our mailing list friends.”

I am intrigued and would like to try a bottle or two. Cost will be $45 a bottle, so I have no idea if that is over priced or about right. Bottom line, I’ll get some to try out.

2

Some obvious questions:

  1. Is this supposed to be a dry wine or some sort of a dessert wine?

  2. Did it see oak?

  3. I guess it’s mailing list only? [I’m not seeing it at the online store.]

  4. Who owns the vines? Is this something they planted themselves, or is it purchased fruit?

3

Nathan, it’s a dry wine, no mention of oak treatment, it’s mailing list/club members only and these are estate vines that Rudy planted himself on Diamond Mountain.

4

Interesting but not exactly at a ‘lets try it and see how it is’ price. You can get tons of good GV from Austria for a quarter of that.

5

Cris, I agree it is pretty pricey. I wanted to try some…1. because I am a long time buyer and supporter of von Strasser and 2. sounds interesting. One or two bottles won’t break the bank this week.

6

What Cris said.

7

Yeah, I can’t find one for over $20 on Wine Searcher (although I’ve seen some in the low $30’s before) so that is a serious tariff for first vintage GV…

8

True, the lower-end offerings are pretty plentiful, but it’s tough to see a Wachau Smaragd these days at the lower end of the $20s. You can spend $$ on gruner if you want to, and for the top producers, it can be money well-spent. YMMV, of course.

9

I love GV but IMHO that price is ridiculous ! I have never heard of California GV not that that means anything.

ps…the smilies are fabulous. [imnewhere.gif] Too many to choose from ( this has nothing to do with GV )

10

The cool thing about this offering is that 99.9% of the Gruner grown in the world is in Austria. I know a small amount is grown in Italy and even a very small amount in Oregon so as a Gruner aficionado I have to try it.

11

It’s a VERY small amount in Oregon. AFAIK, a friend has the only Gruner vineyard in the Willamette Valley. It’s something like 15 vines in his side yard. [rofl.gif]

12

I heard about this a couple of years ago and was excited to see it but the price is too steep. For a first release it’s a bit ambitious to price yourself alongside Hirtzberger, Nikolaihof and Brundlmayer. Unfortunate, as I’m a big fan of Von Strasser and their wines usually deliver for the price.

13

Anyone who has not yet experienced Gruner Veltliner should run, not walk, to a full-service wine shop. I recommend that you buy several, from different producers, and possibly start a love-affair this wonderful wine!

Geez, that sounded a bit “gush-y”, no?

14

Winegut Manning is definitely cult wine. Made only in very select vintages. I hear the consulting winemaker is top shelf.

However, there is more gruner here in the Willamette Valley. Evesham Wood has a small amount of vines and I believe Russ has bottled it separately at least once. Can’t find confirmation of that, but I’ve smelled the peppery clusters of gruner from the vineyard. It’s usually a small part of the Blanc du Puits Sec blend.

Daedelaus makes a gruner from the Elton vineyard. Very nice, true to the grape, priced around $18.

Chehalem harvested their first crop of gruner at Wind Ridge vineyard in 2008.

Illahe vineyard has a couple acres of gruner as well. They grow lots of crazy things, including lagrein.

I think there are others still. Gruner is a grape that could do very well in our climate. Who knows if it will catch on in any way, but what I’ve tasted suggests it probably should. Even Manning’s homebrew from '06 wasn’t too shabby.

15

I had this wine last week and it was very good. Has a glass cap. But it’s not as good as Rieslings at the same price. And I compare all whites to Rieslings in terms of QPR. That being said, it was very floral and better than most GVs. The only problem is…as I said…it ain’t Riesling. [cray.gif]