Top Austrian Wines

WINE TALK
1

Hello fellow Bezerkers…

I am headed to Vienna/Wachau this Friday…looking for advice on rare wines.

Besides bringing back a few wines I encounter that I like from Wachau producers, are there any I should keep an eye out for when in a wine shop or restaurant wine list? Maybe not Wachau producers? I hear and have read that Austria’s best reds, while numbering few, don’t leave the borders as they are small production.

2

Well - a question like “Top French Wines” …
[wow.gif]

OK, just a few short hints:

In Wachau try “Tegernseehof” - they are really good.

Reds: many, but yesterday I had an excellent Pinot noir from “Schloss Halbturn” 2006.
Moreover reds from Pöckl, (Genot) Heinrich, Umathum, Schönberger, Grassl, Preisinger, Achs … and many more

Sauvignon blancs from Tement, Gross, Potzinger, Sattlerhof, (Erwin) Sabathi … Sepp Muster …

3

Well, small world, Tom. Susan & I will be in Wien weekend after next. A visit to Weingut Zahel is planned. Their heuriger comes highly recommend
as an authentic expression of that genre. They make an OrangeTraube that’s quite good.
Tom

4

Zahel made the first Austrian red that I truly loved; their 1999 Antares…
the head of Austrian Wine Marketing poured it blind for me and Schildknecht one night at the old Steierereck, and I swore that it had to be Château Pichon Lalande…

went to see Richie down in Mauer a couple years back with Tucek and the crew, cannot for the life of me see any sense at all in Orangetraube…

5
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Is the wine shop on St Stephan’s Platz still there? I’ve gotten some old Gruner Veltliner and nice reds from them in the past.

7

Currently undergoing renovation with a small pop up shop run by them (Wein & Co.) selling wine in the ground floor. The new store will be amazing.
weinandco.jpg

8

Thanks for the wine shop recc in Vienna, I will check that out!

9

Thanks Gerhard, I just saw you were in a few other Austrian wine threads. So thanks for those comments also!

I also just snagged the Falstaff 2016 Austrian wine guide in English on Amazon…I will take a look at those red reccs below! I also am curious about the Sauvignon Blancs…I liek mine minerally and tense like Cotat and Boulay…how do these compare?

10

Cool, I will mark this one down to remember!

11

Tom! Wachau will have my wife and daughter “Weined-Out” so in Vienna I already got denied the Heuriger stop…museums, tourist attractions, and…Oktoberfest…it starts the weekend after (so next weekend): http://www.wienerwiesnfest.at/


12

Vinothek St. Stephan still has their website up - http://vinothek1.at

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Eric Ifune wrote:Is the wine shop on St Stephan’s Platz still there? I’ve gotten some old Gruner Veltliner and nice reds from them in the past.


Vinothek St. Stephan still has their website up - > http://vinothek1.at

Yes, this is the place I was thinking of.

14

Austrian Sauvignons are more fruit-driven than Sancerres (or PF), acidity is (while always lively and fresh) less edgy and more balanced with the fruit, minerality is less chalky, more like grapefruit and elder …
The classic cuvees are elevated in INOX, some top-cuvées (vineyard-designated) use old or new wood …

15

First, get Wine-Searcher Pro.

Don’t make any serious wine purchases until you’ve got Wine-Searcher Pro.

Then, for dry wines, you’ve got about 106 bottles of Franz Hiedler Singerriedel Riesling available in greater Austria:

http://www.wine-searcher.com/find/hirtzberger+singerriedel/1/austria/

About 39 bottles of Franz Hiedler Honivogl Gruner Veltliner:

http://www.wine-searcher.com/find/hirtzberger+honivogl/1/austria/

A 1.5L magnum of the 1986 “Honifogl”:

http://www.wine-searcher.com/find/hirtzberger+honifogl/1/austria/

About 24 bottles of FX Pichler Unendlich Riesling:

http://www.wine-searcher.com/find/pichler+unendlich+riesling/1/austria/

About 1 bottle of FX Pichler Unendlich Gruner Veltliner:

http://www.wine-searcher.com/find/pichler+unendlich+gruner/1/austria/

About 75 bottles of FX Pichler “M” Riesling:

http://www.wine-searcher.com/find/pichler+m+riesling/1/austria/

And about 61 bottles of FX Pichler “M” Gruner Veltliner:

http://www.wine-searcher.com/find/pichler+m+gruner/1/austria/

For dessert wines, you’re looking at either unoaked/stainless-steel Trockenbeerenauslese [TBA], from Alois Kracher, called “Zwischen den Seen”, or oaked TBA, again from Alois Kracher, called “Nouvelle Vague”.

Kracher made these from a variety of different vines - Riesling, Welchriesling [aka “Riesling Italico”, aka the Italian Riesling], Chardonnay, Scheurebe, etc - but pretty much anything from Alois Kracher will be “Wine of the Tasting” at almost any tasting event.

They’re a little more difficult to search for - you might have to scroll through some bogus hits until you find what you need:

http://www.wine-searcher.com/find/kracher+TBA/1/austria/

http://www.wine-searcher.com/find/kracher+trockenbeerenauslese/1/austria/

http://www.wine-searcher.com/find/kracher+zwischen/1/austria/

http://www.wine-searcher.com/find/kracher+nouvelle/1/austria/

Finally, Hiedler has been known to make a beerenauslese from Chardonnay, but it is very difficult to find, and I didn’t see any Hiedler Beerenauslese in Austria on Wine-Searcher.

16

don’t pay any attention to this ridiculous foolishness.

17

I’m not sure whether you’re serious.

But I’m serious, and if the Original Poster is serious about bringing home cellar-worthy wines from Austria, then it is imperative that he get Wine-Searcher Pro, so that he can fully understand what the market has to offer.

On the other hand, if all he’s interested in are table wines, then he can walk down the street to the nearest pub or bistro or gasthaus, and guzzle away to his heart’s content.

18

Of course, the other possibility is that you folks are all gazillionaires, and price isn’t an issue for you.

But for normal folk, you have to get Wine-Searcher Pro before you start stocking a serious cellar.

[Or maybe you were just being facetious? I honestly can’t tell with this board anymore. Sorry.]

19

well for one, there was the insult to Gerhard Kracher, who has been doing a stellar job with an impossible task at the family estate since Luis died nearly nine years ago…

and then there was that Hiedler Honigvogl…
aint no such animal.

and last time i spoke with Hiedler, his name was still Ludwig

and there is so much FX in the US market here, both importer and grey market, that i have no idea why anybody would want to bring it back from Austria, when there is so much other wine there that is interesting, fascinating and excellent.

the original poster was expressing curiosity, not acquisitiveness.
only one person who responded seems not to understand this.

20

Got it now, thanks!