Austria Wine Lecture 2003

by Margaret Swaine | Apr 1, 2003

I confess to years of extolling the virtues of Austrian wines in my columns. In fact I’ve travelled to Austria so many times that a former Austrian Consul General once quipped that he was going to make me an honorary Austrian citizen. There’s Vienna for opera, dance and music. Salzburg for Mozart. And…

As often as I can I go to Austria to ski. Lech far in the Alps is my favourite spot. It’s a snazzy little town high up the mountains where the scenery is gorgeous, the food generally delicious whether it’s pork hock, liver dumpling soup or fancy haute cuisine. It’s the wide choice of Austrian wines however that clinches it for me. A lot of English and American tourists frequent the hotels I stay in and they like wine but don’t know where to begin when faced with a predominately Austrian wine list. I end up an ambassador to Austrian wines – a stand in sommelier to advise people what to drink. I do so because I can’t bear to see the tourists missing out on such great wine because of simple ignorance. But you can’t blame them for being stymied when it comes to Austrian wine.

In a wine producing country no bigger than Rioja or the Loire with less than 1% of the world production, there are 40,000 wine makers of which over 6,500 produce bottled wines. Within the four federal states there are 16 wine regions, often quite tiny, each producing dozens and dozens of different wine types – according to vineyards, sugar levels, grape varieties and so forth. There are 21 officially recognized white grape varieties and 13 red divided into a myriad of quality designations. So where does a drinker begin?

First of all Austrian vineyards are largely white – 77%. And grüner veltliner represents over a third of the production (37%). Yes GV – that wonderful marvellous grape that can beat the pants off chardonnay or any other white in blind tastings.

I always drink in on the slopes – in it’s fresh, peppery, fruity form after skiing or at lunch. And in its full bodied, smooth, complex style with dinner. So it’s no wonder that Austria’s first denomination of control will feature grüner veltliner from Austria’s largest wine growing area the Weinviertel, just north of Vienna. The introduction of DAC (Districtus Austria Controllatus) has happened this year. The first DAC wines are on the market from over 400 producers. The next DAC will probably be Mittelburgenland which plans to introduce the system with the 2003 vintage. Favourite for the status is Blaufrankisch., a powerful dense long-lived red with typical regional character. Other areas are expected to follow suit.

Let’s begin the tasting. You were greeted with Schlumberger Blanc de Blanc from the Wienviertel. Robert Schlumberger who learned how to make champagne at Ruinart in France founded the company in 1842. Made in the traditional method it has 18 to 24 months in bottle on the lees and is from welschriesling grapes.

The first flight is all grüner veltliner. I remember a blind tasting I attended in Vienna in 1998 where wines from this grape handily beat out 21 top “chardonnay and company” whites such as Corton Charlemagne, Caymus, Le Montrachet, Jermann, Gaja and more. Overall winner that year was Brundlmayer Ried Lamm 1995.

GV can be traced back to the northern part of Lower Austria and remains rarely planted outside of the country, hence Austria’s true speciality. It believed to be a descendant of the traminer variety.

1. Undhof Salomon has vineyards next to the old towns of Stein and Krems with their narrow romantic streets and historic buildings (some of Austria’s oldest communities). It’s a seven generation family business. There used to be a wine tasting room open to the public in the cellar of Kloster Und, in the town of Und run by the Salomon’s but I heard it’s now closed. The region is called Kremstal and is known for gv and riesling. Kremstal is one third of the Grüner Veltliner Triumvirate Wachau-Kremstal-Kamptal. Kremstal is the transition point where the steely, mineral laden power of the Wachau meets the broad, fruit driven, expansive richness of the Kamptal. The ground is primarily of rock, granite, loess and schist. I’m a great fan of the clean purity of Salomon wines and of Bertold who used to run the Austrian Wine Marketing Board before returning to his family’s winery. The single vineyard Wieden just behind the winery produces an archetypal gv with typical peppery character.

2. Felsner: is also from Kremstal region near the town of Krems. They have the steep slopes of Lossterrassen and old vines – many as old as 45 years. This is a Kabinett level (picked at a higher sugar level and can’t be chaptalised).

3. Angerer estate has 27 acres in the Kamptal region. The winemaker Kurt Angerer is attached to tradition and terroir but does use new experimental production methods. Remember being impressed by his wines in previous years – a new star. This has been stainless steel fermented.

4. Brundlmayer is continually at the top of national and international competitions. Organic as organic as possible – natural fertilizers. Winemaker Willi Brundlmayer ferments this in 2 – 3 year old 300 litre Austrian oak, then racks into larger 25 hectolitre old casks. The soil of Ried Kaferberg is similar to that of Petrus – sandy clay – making a potent wine. The vines are old, hence concentrated, weighty wine. Kamptal district.

5. Schloss Gobelsburg. An ancient winery owned by Cistercian Monks of Stift Zwettl. (Castle first mentioned as property of Earl Hadmar of Kuenring. Various aristocratic owners kept upping the size and embellishments until last one forced the son to enter the monastery of Zwettl to bring in the whole property and incurred debts. Willi Brundlmayer and Michael Moosbrugger now involved with winemaking. Former times used grapes for alter wine. Ried Lamm is on a slight south facing slope at the foot of Heiligenstein. It’s fermented and aged in 25 hectolitre oak. Also Kamptal district.

Other White Grapes

1. Machherndl: Wine family since 1786. House dates to the 13th century. Young Erich Machherndl aims for quality naturally. Riesling from the Wachau – a beautiful and treasured region with steep, terraced vineyards overlooking the Danube. The baroque masterpiece the monastry of Melk and the walled town of Durnstein with fortress ruins on the hills. Apricot trees. Mainly whites classified into three categories of Steinfeder (light, racy), federspiel (elegant, medium bodied) and smaragd (ripe, full-bodied) based on sugar content of the must (grape juice at picking). This is a smaragd from Steinterrassen (stone terrace).

2. Tement: Manfred Tement’s winery has been called one of the best in Austria. It’s in southern Styria. This lesser known region, called Austria’s Tuscany is southwest of Vienna, bordering Slovenia. Tement aims for pure varietal character with the klassik line. He also makes impressive TBA’s from chardonnay or morillon as it is locally known.

3. Wohlmuth is also from southern Styria. Gerhard Wohlmuth was named Austria’s winemaker of the year in 2001. Family run winery since 1803.

4. Hofbauer: Family biz since 1615. From the Wienviertel in the wine town of Unterretzbach. Largest region just northwest of Vienna.
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5. Neumeister. In Straden. Was a buschenschank (aka heurige) – family run farm tavern where home grown food and wine is sold. Now a restaurant and building a guest house.

Reds Wines (first three single varietals)

1. Leth: made from Blauer Zweigelt (rotburgunder – a crossing of blaufrankish and St. Laurent created by Dr. Zweigelt in 1922 at Klosterneuburg) now the leading red variety of Austria. Gigama name to designate it’s an outstanding red only made in the best vintages. Matured 24 months in French oak barriques. Winery known as one of the top red producers. From Donauland just north west of Vienna where the historical town of Klosterneuburg is and the stunning abbey whose cornerstone was laid in 1114. Heart of loess area. Up and comer, export active – founded in 1960 and continually expanding – acquired 35hectares which is large by Austrian standards.

2. Iby: Blaufraufrankisch. (aka lemberger in Washington or limburger in Germany)Widely planted with notable high acidity. Iby grows exclusively reds on their 29 hectares. This aged in small French oak. From Mittelburgenland. Burgenland to the southeast of Vienna contains a series of low-lying lakes that are well-suited to production of dessert wine and is also the heart of red wine production in Austria.

3. Stift Klosterneuburg: St. Laurent belongs to the burgunder family and shares many of pinot noir’s characteristics (juicy fruit and relatively low in tannins). However it ripens much sooner so can be cultivated in many more places. It gets its name from Saint Laurent whose name day in August 10 around the time when St. Laurent starts to ripen. This is the classic line meant to be drunk fresh and fruity. Vineyards are 100 hectares around Vienna in Danauland.

4. Hans Moser: Family vintners since 1648 more red 65% than white producers. Recently planted shiraz. VTS is blend of cab sauv, blaufrankisch, merlot, cab franc and Zweigelt, oak aged. From Neusiedlersee in Burgenland.

5. Beisteiner. Blend of blaufrankisch (50%), Zweigelt (10%) and cab sauv (40%) aged for 18 to 24 months in big Austrian oak barrels. From Neckenmarkt in Mittelburgenland in the heart – known as blaufrankischland.

Sweeties

The first TBA was produced in 1526, the legendary Lutherwien for the Neusiedlersee in Burgenland. Today the lake is more like a swamp with lots of mosquitoes in summer. The lake doesn’t cool in the summer but in the winter gets cold – frost damage is possible. Can make icewines about 2 years out of three. The most famous sweet wine came from the town of Rust where small amounts of healthy grapes were added to grapes affected by botrytis to produce Ruster Ausbruch, similar in style to the famous Hungarian wine of Tokay. (as a matter of fact the area now known as Burgenland belonged to Hungary until 1921). The most prosperous time for Ruster Ausbruch was during the 16th and 17th centuries until the drying out of the shallow Neusiedlersee between 1865 and 1871. Alois Kracher revived the sweet wines in about 1991. Anyone who has met him would agreed his label as the crazy Austrian was well earned. He has had an enormous influence on Austrian sweet wines.

1. Hafner: In the small town of Monchhof 35 miles from Vienna on the eastern shore of Lake Neusiedl. Voted the most successful red and noble white producer in 2002. Concentrated on kosher wines – mevushal kosher.

2. Nittnaus: Forefathers laid estate 300 years ago. Have 22 hectares near Lake Neusiedl. Do reds, whites and specialty botrytis sweeties. This from muscat ottonell and welschriesling.

3. Sepp Moser: Twin brother of Lenz Moser, one of top estates. Two separate vineyard locations. Terrace out into the mountain in Kremstal and in the plain of Lake Neusiedlersee in the sunniest spot in Austria ideal for sweet wines. Fermented in 300 litre oak, matured 2½ months in oak then put in stainless.

4. Elfenhof: TBA barrique from Neusidlersee-Hugelland

5. Alfred Fischer: Founded in 1931. Bouvier a particular grape mainly found in Burgenland. Winery one of finest sweet producers. TBA.

Austria Wine Contacts:

https://www.austrianwine.com/

Canadian Icewines

by Margaret Swaine | Feb 1, 2003

The mere idea of picking grapes in the dead of a Canadian winter’s night in below freezing weather may make your blood run cold. However in Canada wine aficionados reserve in advance for the privilege. Canadian icewine is so coveted and delicious people will do just about anything to get it. For some that includes leaving a warm bed, maybe even a New Year’s party, to go pick. When the temperature drops below –8 Celsius, the calls go out to those on each wineries list, to come pick henceforth. The precious bunches of grapes hanging forlornly for so long into the winter need immediate picking lest the weather warm up. Certain people do it for the money, but for others the reward is a bottle of icewine and at some wineries their name listed on the back label as a picker that year. I did it for the camaraderie but once was enough.

Canadian icewines have silenced the snicker of European vintners. They have scooped top prizes in so many international competitions that even the French have taken note (some have joined up with British Columbian and Ontario vintners to establish wineries in Canada). Beginning in 1991 when Inniskillin 1989 Vidal Icewine won the Grand Prix d’Honneur at Vinexpo in France, every year Canada’s wineries have won gold medals, top of class, even best of show in global competitions. This year Vineland Estates made history by winning the top overall award at Vinitaly’s international taste-off. The Grand Vinitaly 2003 Award is given to the winery that achieves the highest combined score in all categories. It was Vineland’s Vidal Icewine 1999 and Vidal Icewine 2000 that clinched it for them.

Canada is recognized as the world’s leading producer of icewine, a wine so challenging to make that few countries can do it authentically. The two other notable nations are Germany, the birthplace of icewine, and Austria. One can also find a smattering of icewine from places such as Luxembourg, Hungary, Switzerland and northern United States. True icewine is made from grapes that have naturally frozen on the vine. They must be hand-harvested in winter when temperatures dip to at least -8° Celsius and are immediately pressed while still frozen. The resultant syrup slowly ferments for a long time, months even. This natural method results in an icewine of finesse, complex in structure with subtle layers of honey and fruits such as apricot, peach and pineapple. The signature of a great icewine is the balance between sweetness and acidity that creates a refreshing tension on the palate.

Some warm climate areas make much paler versions of icewine by placing the grapes in freezers and later pressing the juice. Even an amateur can taste the difference. Grapes left on the vine long after they are ripe gain considerable depth of flavor. It intensifies further waiting for the deep freeze to occur as they thaw and freeze and shrivel. Sometimes they get botrytis – a noble rot responsible for the world’s best dessert wines that deepens the honey flavors.

Icewine is pricey – about sixty dollars and up a half bottle in America. Justifiably so. The volume of wine made from frozen winter grapes is as little as five to 15 percent of what those same grapes would have produced picked during regular fall harvest. There are big risks involved with leaving fruit on the vine. Bunches fall prey to hungry birds and bears, rain can cause the bad rot and wind can strip the grapes from the vines. Farmers in the Okanagan Valley, whom some would call foolhardy, had to wait until February 24, 2003 before it was cold enough to harvest the 2002 icewine crop. Many didn’t wait, preferring the safety of making a late harvest but those who did like Red Rooster, Gehringer Brothers, Summerhill and Sumac Ridge were rewarded with excellent quality.

Walter Hainle from British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley is credited with making Canada’s first commercial icewine in 1973. A German immigrant he knew what to do when the Okanagan Riesling grapes he had ordered from a grower were caught by an early frost. At the same time in Ontario a few savvy European born oenologists were making icewine as a hobby and trying to interest their bosses in it. Trials began somewhat more in earnest at Brights Winery from 1979 on but the resultant wines tended to be consumed within the winery or taken home by the owners. It took Brights until 1986 to bring a product to market. It was Walter Strehn, an Austrian immigrant who was winemaker at Pelee Island near Windsor who made the first commercial quantity of icewine in Ontario in 1983. The wine retailed for $12.50 a half bottle and so little was sold the Liquor Control Board of Ontario returned it for a refund. More appreciative markets were found in the United States were it reached prices of over $100 a bottle.

Inniskillin under Austrian Karl Kaiser and Reif Winery under German born Klaus Reif were next in Ontario to market in 1984 thanks to nets over the vines. They both had tried in 1983 but lost their entire crop to birds. Reif grabbed world attention when they shipped a bottle of 1987 vidal icewine to American Robert M. Parker, Jr. author of the Wine Advocate, arguably the most influential English language wine newsletter in the world. He included it among the best wines he had tasted in 1989. Hillebrand Winery also made icewine in 1983 but they took the coward’s route by harvesting in October, putting the grapes in cold storage and them bringing them out to freeze in December. Since the 1985 harvest they have been doing it the authentic way. In fact Canadian laws for making icewine are now the strictest in the world.

Slowly but surely every winery that could in Canada began to make icewine. Unlike in Germany, icewine temperatures are expected every year, even if it means one year’s harvest is several months into the next. It’s never possible to predict when things will get cold enough. An Artic chill could mean harvest in November or the weather could blow hot and cold. Then the harvest may end up spread over several months grasping at each cold snap as it comes along. It’s trickier in the warmer Okanagan Valley of British Columbia than Ontario’s Niagara peninsula. Never is it easy.

Now Quebec province has got into the act. Chapelle Sainte Agnès in Sutton for example planted vineyards in 1997 of riesling, vidal, gewürztraminer and other grapes precisely to focus on icewine, straw wine and late harvest. There is a tradition of ice cider in the province and while apples may be less susceptible to winter kill, the dreams are big. In the case of Chapelle Sainte Agnès they must wrap each vine individually in insulating fabric each fall. In Nova Scotia, another province with impressively cold winters, Jost Vineyards made one of the earliest icewines in 1985. Most recently Jost Vidal Icewine 1999 won wine of the year in a blind taste test against 594 wines from across Canada.

About three quarters of Canadian icewine is made from the vidal grape. Vidal is a hybrid grape remarkably good for icewine but mainly forgettable as a table wine. It’s plump, thick-skinned, resistant to disease and clings well to the stalks. The resultant icewine is rich, full bodied with flavors of ripe tropical fruit, apricot and often caramelized brown sugar. The next in importance is the riesling, more noble, refined by acidity with minerally, citrus tones to the apricot honeyed taste. Other white icewine varieties include gewürztraminer, pinot blanc, chardonnay, auxerrois and ehrenfelser. Red grapes tend to be less successful in my opinion but nonetheless the icewines made from cabernet franc, merlot and pinot noir include some that have a sweet strawberry charm such as Jackson-Triggs Grand Reserve Cabernet Franc. Crown Bench Estates in Niagara offers unusual flavoured icewines such as Hot Ice, which is flavoured with three kinds of hot peppers and ambrosia, which is chocolate infused icewine.

Icewines can be aged. They certainly have the sugar and the acidity to preserve them. However after about a decade they will often become quite amber in colour, losing their fruitiness as the nutty, honeyed, brown sugar tastes dominate. Most Canadian winemakers would recommend drinking their icewine within three to four years to enjoy the lively fruity intensity.

What should you serve with icewine? I find an apricot or peach flan, cobbler or crisp mirrors the flavours of the wine nicely. Certain cheeses go well like creamy blues or sharp cheddar. Of course having icewine on its own as a dessert replacement is never a mistake.

How to choose from the 80 or so Canadian wineries producing icewine and the range of grape varieties available? Generally you can’t go wrong with just about anybody’s vidal or riesling icewine which have a universally appealing flavour. That said the other varieties, particularly the more aromatic such as gewürztraminer, can be very intriguing. Wineries that roll of my tongue as consistently wonderful producers of icewines include Inniskillin, Reif, Thirty Bench, Cave Spring, Jackson-Triggs, Mission Hill, Chateau des Charmes, Royal DeMaria and Vineland Estate. But that’s just a beginning. Perhaps you should volunteer to pick. As the volume grows it’s harder for the vintners to find enough winter pickers. You’ll have a true Canadian winter experience if you do and a close encounter with one of the sweetest nectars in the world.

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1. Vineland Estates Vidal Icewine (1999 and 2000 vintage) from Niagara Peninsula in Ontario: 905-562-7088 or 1-888-846-3526 www.vineland.com

2. Jackson-Triggs Niagara Estate Winery Proprietor’s Grand Reserve Riesling Icewine 2000: 905-468-4637 www.jacksontriggswinery.com

3. Royal DeMaria Riesling Icewine 2001 and Royal de Maria Vidal Icewine 2000, from Niagara Peninsula: 905-562-6767 www.royaldemaria.com

4. Chateau des Charmes Riesling Icewine 2000, from Niagara Peninsula: 905-262-4219 www.chateaudescharmes.com

5. Thirty Bench Riesling Icewine 2000 from Niagara Peninsula: 905-563-1698 www.thirtybench.com

6. Cave Spring Riesling Icewine 2000 from Niagara Peninsula: 905-562-3581 www.cavespringcellars.com

7. Pelee Island Riesling Icewine 2000 from Pelee Island in Ontario: 519-733-6551 or 1-800-597-3533 www.peleeisland.com

8. Mission Hill Riesling Icewine 2001 from Okanagan Valley in British Columbia: 205-768-7611 www.missionhillwinery.com

Icewine Festivals:
Sun Peaks a ski resort in the Okanagan holds an annual Icewine Festival in January. Events include a “ progressive tasting” where participants stroll around the alpine village sampling icewines, late harvest and table wines from over 20 wineries, and icewine seminars, along with lift passes of course. Key in www.sunpeaksresort.com and www.TheWineFestivals.com

Ontario holds an icewine festival every year under the banner of Niagara Grape & Wine Festival Icewine Celebrations. The Xerox “Images of Winter” Icewine Evening showcases wines from Ontario’s premier wineries and features Canada’s largest tasting of icewine paired with food. Ten days of touring, tasting and special events are associated with the Icewine Touring Passport Program. Call (905) 688-0212 or visit www.grapeandwine.com.

Icewine Purchase:
Icewine Niagara is the largest distributor of icewine internationally through the internet. They ship about one thousand cases a year to the United States, clearing the product themselves through customs. The company claims that they can home deliver the icewine to Americans for less than it costs retail in the US. At the moment they represent 13 Niagara icewine producers.