Hard to see Grüner Veltliner becoming fashionable again - if it ever was all that popular to begin with - but if that means gems like this remain super affordable then that’s just fine by me. Just bought this for a song and perhaps I need to return to the well for some more.
2016 Weingut Hirsch Grüner Veltliner 1ÖTW Reserve Kammerner Lamm - Austria, Niederösterreich, Kamptal (19.12.2025)
A crystalline nose of yellow apple, white pepper, iodine, flint and a very cool slightly floral note. Elegant with certain attitude about it, serious for sure. On the palate it has concentration, power and a bit of ripeness to it too. Broad shouldered with some spicy warmth, quite a presence. No lack of fruit but this is definitely not a fruit-forward wine. Despite all the oomph it manages a sense of restraint and class on the palate too, quite effortlessly even. I really dig the midpalate tension here. A wine of terrific quality and real interest, serious stuff all the way.
What’s affordable there? I don’t think the reserve gets to the United States. Wine-Searcher shows the 2023 “regular” Hirsch Lamm GV for over $70. Same for the 2022 or 2021.
Actually now that you mention it I don’t think there even is a Reserve bottling, at least the producer website doesn’t mention one. The thing is, there are as many as seven CT entries for a Hirsch Grüner Veltliner Lamm and as I was adding these bottles in a hurry and couldn’t figure out which one would be more accurate than the rest I just picked one. As such, I believe this is the same bottling that you have on that side of the pond. Anyhow, I paid 35 €.
For my wallet the “premium” is for most producers I know and enjoy over the Federspiel level. When shopping I usually just walk past the Austrian section. Sadly. (And not to take the position that there are no value plays but I’d like to continue following producers I enjoyed in the past.)
Nope, I guess I was just inserting “Federspiel” for “entry level” wines. Kamptal, Burgenland, Kremstal, Südsteiermark all work. So I guess the gist of it is that I like the entry level wines (which themselves can sometimes not be cheap) but my heart really digs the higher level single vineyard wines and such.
As David notes, I don’t begrudge anyone a tidy profit. Years ago I did a tour of Austrian wine regions and it was great, they work very hard. As with any wine from any region just a matter of what’s affordable.
Not Hirsch, but when I first started buying the Brundlmayer Grüner Veltliner Alte Reben (my gateway to Grüner) it was $27.99 for the 1995 vintage. The same wine is now right around $60 for current vintage. Just basic inflation puts it at $55, so to an extent the relative price has barely changed.
I love that bottling, such a reliably delicious wine vintage after vintage. In the EU the price has increased too but it can still be had sub-40€. And yet I don’t buy it often enough.
Haven’t ever tasted Gobelsburg’s Renner, but for me, Gobelsburg is the winery producing the most impressive Grüner Veltliners on a most consistent basis. While I like Bründlmayer wines a lot, Schloss Gobelsburg might be the top 1 producer of dry GV - not in just Kamptal, but maybe in the whole Austria.
Grüners are great! I have had a few this year, and seeing Ilkka posting about a 2016, I had to drop a few words about this Schloss Gobelsburg Ried Renner 1ÖTW GV 2016 that I opened last night.
This wine is in a lovely place between youthful yellow fruit and aged airiness, as it lingers lavishly long into the aftertaste with the density of a soulful baritone voice. I have had 2020, 2015 and 2012 of this wine this year, as it is sadly the only Grüner I have bought for cellaring. The 2012 wasn’t the most complex and yielding, so maybe this particular wine isn’t one for the long run.
Well if we’re talking about 2016 GV, we had a lovely bottle of 2016 Prager Ried Achleiten Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Stockkultur the other night. Such rich golden power but also enough freshness not to alienate our palates. I’m no expert, but one would expect this to continue aging well.
(And great value, the internet says it is still available for less than $70 in the US)
What do you mean by ‘taken off’? Just the pricing? I am not an expert on Austrian wine, but I always see Prager in the conversation among top Wachau names.
