Gruner Veltliner

1204.  2005 Rabl - Spiegel Grüner Veltliner (Kamptal - Austria)

Spring Has Sprung

If nothing else, I'm having to come to grips with just how far I'm behind with my posts. We'd opened this bottle as a bit of inspiration for the appearance of Spring - even if that appearance was by the calendar only as the weather may not yet actually qualify as Spring-like- and here I am not actually posting it until much later. Back then, the thought was that if the weather had yet to leave the local mountains awash in field flowers - such that you could dance and sing your way through meadows à la Julia Andrews - at least this wine might conjure up some Spring-like tasting notes.

1086. 2009 Laurenz und Sophie - Singing Grüner Veltliner (Austria)

Neither Austrian wines, nor Grüner Veltliner varietal wines, have made much of an appearance on The List. The 2005 vintage of this wine was an early addition at #50; however, a quick perusal of The List shows that a total of only four Austrian wines have been previously added - this will the fifth - two of which have been Grüner Veltliners and two have been Rieslings.

Indeed, I re-read my posting (from almost three years ago now) of the 2005 bottle and not a whole lot seems to have changed. G.V. is still produced almost exclusively by Austrian wineries and its production still outpaces any other varietal in the country by quite a margin.

Laurenz und Sophie remains quite a new outing for the Moser family. Although the family is in its fifth generation of winemaking, this current partnership was only started in 2005. The winery concentrates solely on the production of Grüner and part of its stated vision is to "support the variety on its way to well-deserved international repute." Their wines are now exported to 39 countries and they have attracted notice - and praise - from many of the bigger forces in wine media. One example being that, Internet wine star, Gary Vaynerchuk, is quoted as detecting "a little burnt tire-meets-apple pudding" with this vintage. I'll point out that Vaynerchuk is never shy with his tasting notes and this was part of a positive review that also declared "impressive complexity and a pretty interesting bottle of Grüner."

You won't find me trying to compete with Vaynerchuck on tasting notes, I simply thought that - seeing as how Grüner is often compared and contrasted with Riesling and/or Pinot Gris - the bottle might match up nicely to butter chicken. We figured it did just fine.

As for the hold-up in finally getting around to posting this bottle, I suppose that, if you're looking for a brighter - or a glass half full - side to the story, the delay with this entry has seen some marginal improvement to the weather. There's certainly plenty of flower action to be seen presently here in Vancouver. Here's hoping that the new season will see some of my creative juices flowing - and a whack of wines being posted and added to The List - as opposed to my showing up on You Tube running through hills that are alive with the sound of music.

Flags, Curlers and Austrians

I'm playing hookey again from work, but this time it's not for hockey. Instead, it's a curling day. We've got tickets for two draws of the curling tournament - women's in the afternoon and men's in the evening. Since we had the opportunity to enjoy the spring-like weather of these Winter Olympics, Merlot Boy and I hit the road to play like all the real tourists were doing. He decided that he'd sport his little Boxing kangaroo flag for the day. Neither one of us ever anticipated the wild attention such a little piece of green cloth and an accent would attract.

It started as we were walking by Russia House. The mascot for the 2014 Games in Sochi was greeting the line-up to get in and, lo and behold, the first of many pictures to come.

We carried on towards Granville Island and saw the original flag, that caused the flap for the IOC, as it adorned the Athletes' Village. If you think the Aussie flag is big, take a look at the Canadian Maple Leaf on the balcony to the left of Merlot Boy's head. Now, that's a flag.

One of the big attractions at the Games has been the experimental introduction of the streetcar along the "Olympic Line" to Granville Island. It's proved to be immensely popular. If only we could make it a more permanent component of Vancouver's transit system. While riding the streetcar, we had a great conversation with a group of Austrians in town to cheer on the Austrian ski-jumpers. Their mood was elevated even more when we advised them that their boys had a clear lead heading into the final round of the team jumping that morning.

When Merlot Boy and I arrived at the curling venue, that little flag caused an even greater stir. Not only did Merlot Boy meet a woman who had started a Facebook group to protest the IOC's banning of the flag, but he was interviewed by Brazilian TV. Brazilian sports commentary of curling by an Aussie. We truly are seeing it all at these Games.

Luckily, the Canadian women are playing in this draw. We still won't get to see the Canadian men play - even in this evening's draw. So, I'm glad we get to see at least one of our teams throw some rocks. Merlot Boy and I had some great centre sheet seats and we were immediately behind a large group of Swiss fans. They were full of song, flag and cowbell. We particularly liked one song that involved swaying backwards, forwards, side to side and up and down. Not your traditional curling cheer, but great fun. The Canadian women had a great game over the defending champion Swedes. Here's hoping.

Following the game, we met up with Boo and hiked across the street to Queen Elizabeth Park to give Merlot Boy a different view of the city - and to have a little park-side sip. Since Boo came directly from home to join us, we had him bring along a bottle of wine and glasses. Now the glasses may not have been Riedel crystal, but you do what you have to do to get around those draconian VANOC and IOC dictates.

373. 2008 Loimer Lenz Riesling (Kamptal DAC - Austria)

OK, so technically if we're to stay with our Olympic wine theme, we shouldn't be drinking this bottle today since Austria didn't win a gold medal yesterday. We could have easily gone the US or Germany route since they did win and their wines are readily available - but we haven't celebrated an Austrian medal yet and they did win the Ladies' Super-G on the Whistler slopes the day before. To top off our justification, the Austrians did win the Team Ski-Jump today. So, we're raising our glasses to our new Austrian friends from the streetcar.

There is a Loimer wine already on The List as Boo, Miss Jaq and I had a Gruner Veltliner back last summer after the Pride Parade. GV is certainly the more common varietal to be found in Vancouver if you're drinking Austrian, but 25% of Loimer's production is Riesling and it seemed like an interesting wine to check out. I didn't talk about the winery much last time - and I don't think there's room to do so here either - but the winery is located in the Kamptal region, North of Vienna, near the town of Langenlois. The Kamptal is one of the principal wine-producing regions in Austria; however, its climate profile differs somewhat from the neighbouring regions because of the moderating influence of the Danube River that flows through it. Hence, you see warm days and cool nights - much like BC's Okanagan Valley.

This Riesling was definitely big on acidity and subtle minerality, with no residual sugar of note. Or, was it just the cool weather and surroundings that we were drinking it in? Despite the sunshine, it was definitely cooling down in the late afternoon. While enjoying our wine as we wandered the gardens and park, I found it interesting to note that, like the Cape Jaffa wine we drank earlier in the week, this winery has recently transitioned to become biodynamic in its viticultural practices. Loimer started the transition in 2005, so these 2008 wines are the starting point for the vineyards to look for certification. Vancouver is touting these Olympics as the "Green Games;" so, it may be fitting that we've opened as many "green" wines as we have.

We still couldn't get Merlot Boy to join us in a drink though. It's been four full days now and he's still sticking to that diet of his. He may have lost 35 pounds since his last visit to Vancouver, but this complete avoidance of the grape while on vacation is simply unnatural.

Following the park visit and our bottle, Merlot Boy headed off to find more admirers of his flag and accent. Boo and I high-tailed it back to the curling venue for the evening Men's draw. Again, no Canadian team to be seen. Nor were there even any wild Norwegian pants to focus on. The closest thing to "all out cheering" we could find was a foursome of face-painted Brits. Yeah, I know there are only three in this picture, but one of them must have been off for another beer run. I'm quite sure that sharing a bottle of wine for The List with them could have led to some interesting stories.

This draw was pretty much at the end of the round robin part of the competition and we were watching the six teams on the bottom end of the current standings. Accordingly, there wasn't a whole lot at stake as far as medals were concerned. Aside from the Brits, none of these teams still had a legitimate chance at making the playoff round. All the same, Vancouver rarely gets to watch a curling competition of this magnitude. So, you enjoy what you can, when you can, especially since these were the last of our tickets for events at the Games. Well be sipping wine in front of the telly from now on.

Hey, that might mean that the blog entries will feature more wine and less street meanderings for a bit. Nah, doubt it.

Hot Fun, Refreshing Wine & Pride

Okay, let's face it, this entry is way more about the location and the people than it is about the wine. But hey, from Day 1, I've said this blog is about documenting the wines we drink, where we drink them and with whom. It just so happens that we drank today's wines in a vibrant and colourful, party-like setting.

Following brunch and the mimosas back home, the plan was to get downtown and find a viewing point that would shade us a bit for the two-hour Pride Parade and allow us to get some good shots as the Parade marched on by. "Problem" was there were a couple hundred thousand people that had the same idea AND arrived at the parade route long before us. Darn those mimosas.

After a bit of a wander, Boo, Miss Jaq and I determined that we weren't to likely to find that ideal spot and the Parade was due to start shortly. So, we just lodged ourselves in a spot where the folk in front of us were a bit shorter in stature. It actually turned out to be quite a decent spot and we had some good laughs with some of our neighbour spectators.

However, one note to self. Don't stand in a location behind a bunch of kids sitting on the curb if you want to get any of the beads and swag being thrown about. The kids are inevitably going to get the bulk of the goodies handed right to them. I guess a possible alternative would be to "rent" a couple of kids for the day and just set them up in front of you. The only problem with that is you have to return them before you can carry on to the party or start throwing back some refreshing wine.

Following the Parade - which I found to be quite entertaining this year, much brighter and not so political - we wandered by Marquis Wines and picked up a couple of cold bottles to sip on down by the water and festivities.

145. 2007 Fred Loimer Rose (Kamptal - Austria)

It only seemed fitting to have a little pink at Pride and the Loimer looked very inviting. Nice packaging (although you likely can't tell so well from the photos) and the wine was ever-so-refreshing. Being an Austrian wine, I suppose it shouldn't come as a shock that it's 100% Zweigelt, the most highly-planted red varietal in the country.

We just plonked ourselves down on the hillside about the festival and watched the world go by for awhile. When resident doyenne, Bill Monroe, walked by, I thought it might be a perfect way to capture this bottle. Bill's been a standout performer and fundraiser in the community for years and may be the best impersonator of Lizzie Two Strokes (HRM Queen Elizabeth II) around. I'll always have a fond memory of walking behind Bill in his royal regalia, with Team Vancouver, through Team France at the Opening Ceremonies for the 2002 Gay Games in Sydney, Australia. I think it was a flask of gin - rather than wine - that kept us all moving along there though.

Unlucky for Bill, we didn't have a spare glass to send Bill off with - but we did get a shot to capture the day for a little more than a healthy swig of rose.

146. 2008 Loosen Bros Dr. L Riesling (Qualitatswein - Mosel - Germany)

This is another wine and producer that we'll be adding to The List down the road. Ernst Loosen is a highly respected and influential winemaker in the Mosel. He's often credited, by the big names in wine reporting, with playing a particularly significant role in moving German winemaking into the 21st Century. Loosen Bros has been referred to as the "standard bearer" and "bell weather" winery for the Mosel.

Dr. L is an introductory wine for Loosen Bros, but it is continually found on "best of" and "top buy" lists. We didn't part with any of this bottle to a passing drag queen but we couldn't have enjoyed it any more than we did in the setting of the day.

A closing thought for the afternoon was that the hillside where we sat was within 100 metres of a spot where Miss Jaq and I experienced a Pride moment that we often look back on fondly. It must have been 20 or 25 years ago. I wasn't out to family or school friends at the time, but Miss Jaq and I had gone to the Pride Parade - which was teeny, tiny back then - and we were sitting on the curb, all preppy and cute (as we were in those days). A wildly fashioned drag queen came marching by us and stopped to smile and loudly announce, "Ooooh, milk and cookies. How sweet." Lord knows what she'd be saying now.

Happy Pride!!

Fatty Crabs & Austrians

The first thing that you get when you Google "Austrian Riesling" is "Did you mean Australian Riesling?" Certainly out here in Vancouver, you're far more likely to find an Aussie wine over an Austrian one any day - and, if you do run across an Austrian wine, it's likely a Gruner Veltliner or a Zweigelt.

Bur here we were at Fatty Crab with Berra Yogi, getting ready to chow down on our Asian-inspired tapas, and lo and behold, we're being served an Austrian wine. It was a suggestion of the sommelier when Boo said that he didn't really want any noticeable sweetness to the wine. I'd actually thought that it was a German wine that we'd ordered because of the name, but then I saw Osterreich on the label after we'd had a glass or so and I took a better look at the bottle.

87. 2007 Weingut Brundlmeyer Riesling Kamptaler Terrasen (Kamptal - Austria)

I couldn't find out much about this wine or the winery online. In general, Austrian Rieslings take a back seat to Gruner Veltliner, but it would seem that the good Rieslings can rank right up there with the best of the Germans and the rest of the world producers. It just isn't all that common to find them because the local Austrian market buys up the majority of the good wines.

From what I could find, Brundlmeyer is a known and established producer in Austria. I noted in one "article" that their wines were some of the first Austrian wines to find an overseas market. The winery is located in the Kamptal region which is one of the country's top regions and, according to Jancis Robinson, the Riesling grape reigns in Kamptal. I also read that there are notes on local wines going back to 1280 in the Langenlois Abbey Registry.

I don't think this was the finest wine that Brundlmeyer produces. This was so acidic even Boo was commenting that he wished he'd sat back and kept quiet about the "no sweetness" comment. It wasn't the greatest match to the spiciness of the dishes but it certainly gave us a novel entry for The List.

"Singing Gruner Veltliner"

Groovy.  Trendy.  Rising Cult Status.  

These were some of the descriptors I saw when looking up Gruner Veltliner as a grape varietal.  It certainly isn't one that most shoppers would specifically head to the neighbourhood liquor store to buy - although I'll admit that it was one of the first wines we counted on The List because a bottle was brought to our Wine Boyz tasting of "wines you've never had before."

Most Gruner Veltliner comes from Austria as it's almost their national grape - and this one does just that.

50.  2005 Laurenz und Sophie Singing Gruner Veltliner (Austria)

More than a third of all vineyard acreage in Austria is planted with the grape - which is almost four times as much as the next varietal planted.  We don't see a lot of Austrian wines in Vancouver, although that is starting to change a little bit.  Most commentators seem to say that Austrian wineries have raised their standards since a well-publicized anti-freeze scandal back in 1985.  Higher standards predictably lead to higher quality and that creates its own higher demand.

I understand that G.V. is popular with riesling crowd (of which I belong) and is readily approachable by the ABC (Anything But Chardonnay) folk.  The grape is apparently very adaptable to stylistic manipulation by the winemaker and it can, therefore, be seen in a number of taste profiles.

In fact, this winery offers up this "singing" version, in addition to its "friendly" and "charming" bottles.  The back label says that you just have to try it to find out why it's called "Singing."  While we had no problem quaffing down the bottle, it didn't exactly leave us warbling or dancing around the garden or living room - although maybe after another couple bottles of it, we might have.  The acidity did lend itself well to a splash of cassis for the first kir I've enjoyed in a long time.

The Rest of the World seems to only plant it if an ex-pat Austrian has a sentimental hankering for the taste of home.  I didn't find a single winery in Canada that produces a straight G.V. although there was a brief mention of a couple German-sounding names growing a bit for blending purposes.  I wonder if part of that reason is that the grape is a late-ripener and our limited growing season in the Great White North may not lend itself easily to economic production.  Maybe it's just that no one knows what it is.

Guess we'll see if GV is destined to follow in the steps of viognier and become a bit of a grape du jour.

...And We're Off...

I've been wanting to find a fun, and hopefully, interesting way to keep track of our adventures in wine for some time now. I've been toying with blogging as being the means of reaching that end. Being the computer-challenged chap that I am, the odd thought about taking a stab at a blog is about as far as anything has progressed so far. The Vancouver Playhouse Wine Festival and its myriad of bottles last week made it just that much clearer that, the longer I delayed, the more opportunities I was missing out on.

So, today's the day and I get to start with a bang!! I'm adding our first seven bottles in the count.

For a couple of years now, every so often, a group of us gets together for a blind tasting of wines to try and discover some new faves or find out a bit more about a particular wine or wine-producing area. I've been calling it our "Wine Boyz" nights since there was a four-man cadre that formed the backbone of the tastings. We've had tastings of Bordeaux blends, BC whites, Aussie reds, grenache and so on.

Last night's theme was totally new - everyone was to bring a wine that was either a varietal they'd never tried or heard of before or was from an area that they'd never really thought of as a wine-producing region. We were hoping for some really different wines to show up and, you know, we pretty much did. I don't know that any of them would necessarily have been choices that I would readily have reached for to take home from the liquor store.

But we had to laugh when - out of all the wines in the world there were to choose from - two people brought the same wine. Both of them truly took the theme to heart - it was the tannat grape and the wine was from Uruguay. They both may well have chosen the only Uruguayan wine available for sale in the city and tannat is hardly a varietal that many could talk about. But what made it even crazier was that one of the bottles was corked!! And it was our neighbours that brought the corked bottle - after they'd brought a corked bottle to the last tasting. What are the odds!! Are they storing their wine along with the dirty diapers they currently have gracing their home?

In any event, the first wines on our road to 2001 are:

1. 2007 Woop Woop - Verdelho (Australia)

2. 2006 Arndorfer - Gruner Veltliner (Austria)

3. 2006 Domaine De L'Ecu - Gros-Plant du Pays Nantais - Melon de Bourogne (Loire)

4. 2007 Domaine du Tariquet - Sauvignon (blanc) (Vin de Pays des Cotes de Gascogne)

5. 2005 KWV Cathedral Cellar - Cabernet Sauvignon (South Africa)

6. 2007 Cantina Santa maria La Palma Alghero Le Bombarde - Cannonau di Sardegna (DOC Sardegna - Italy)

7. 2007 Pisano - Reserve Tannat (Uruguay)

Despite the hope of discovering a new varietal that just jumped up and said "buy me, drink me, love me," it was the more recognizable South African cab and the French sauvignon blanc that proved to be the favourites among the gang. 4 of 7 picked the sauv blanc as the top white (although I picked the Gruner Veltliner) and 6 of 7 picked the cab as their fave red. No one picked the tannat as their favourite and 4 of us said it was the least enjoyable. With the whites, 4 of us announced the Nantais as nasty.

Here's hoping that there's lots to be enjoyed in the remaining 1994 bottles to be imbibed!