Varietal:Â 100% Gruner Veltliner
Region:Â Austria
Cost:Â $24.50
My Review:Â I had picked up this wine last month to open up on Thanksgiving at my parents’ house, and while it made the trip up there, in the confusion of a dozen or so people drinking and talking and having fun, it just never got opened. Oh well, just meant I had to bring it back home with me and drink another time – which just happened to be last night.
As you’ll recall back in August I had an end of summer party featuring a case of white wine, among which was a bottle of Gruner Veltliner that I quite enjoyed. Because of that I had rather high hopes for the 2009 Steininger which, unfortunately, it just didn’t quite meet.
Now, that’s not to say that the wine was bad, because it wasn’t. It was a nice golden color in the glass and I got dry aromas of some apple and a little spice that carried through to a rather dry and round mouth feel that wasn’t unenjoyable and paired quite well with a dinner of salmon and mashed potatoes. That being said, I just didn’t like it as much.
Maybe I didn’t think it was quite worth the cost, or maybe I enjoyed the bit of effervescence on the one I’d had in August that I just never quite got on this bottle. Whatever it was, while I’d hesitate to call the wine bad, I just wasn’t blown away by it.
The problem I run into here is that my limited amount of experience with Gruner Veltliner has me unsure about which of the two I’ve had is more indicative of the grape. I kind of hope it’s the former because I’d like to try more Gruner in the future, especially once summer comes back around. Definitely give it a try if somebody already has a bottle open, but I don’t know that I’d say rush out and buy it either.
