Maybe it’s for your daughter’s wedding, or your nephew’s bar mitzvah. Maybe it’s the annual family jamboree, or a Thanksgiving dinner for an army. If you know something about wine, even a little bit, you might one day hear this: “Will you do the wine?” You’ll have a hard time
Quick! Name an Austrian wine. Did you say Grüner Veltliner? Take two points—and double that if you’ve drunk one in the last six weeks. Did you say Zweigelt? You just won a geek badge. Grüner is indeed the most widely grown grape variety in Austria, and there’s about as much
This Zweigelt also hails from the Niederösterreich in the smaller district of Carnuntum. But the vineyard mesoclimate enjoys the tempering influences of Lake Neusiedl and the Danube, producing riper fruit that still retains good acidity. The wine was deep cherry red with extremely elegant aromatics, including a whiff of tropical
Leo Hillinger is a producer in Burgenland boasting a sleek, new modern winemaking and tasting facility built with many sustainable and green design features. Vineyard management is all organic, with only biological interventions and pest management practices when required. I’ve enjoyed their Pinot Noir, which is herbaceous and has distinct
Here was a red from the Wagram region of Lower Austria, the coolest zone in this lineup. The result was concomitantly lower in alcohol and had the telltale pale garnet color of a cool-climate wine. Hints of mint and herbs wafted over lovely aromas of plummy black fruits with a
13.5% ABV | Price: about $14 (media sample) The result of another Monika Caha collaboration, this time with winemaker Erich Scheiblhofer. The fruit was grown in the extreme southern tip of Burgenland, which enjoys considerable sunshine and warmer temperatures than elsewhere in Austria. The result was, not surprisingly, the most
This wine is a collaboration between winemaker Neinhard Forstreiter and Monika Caha Selections, who distributes the brand. Aging was half in stainless and half in neutral oak, but the wine mysteriously offered sweet butterscotch aromas along with its faint hints of black pepper. On the palate it was slightly spicy
Pour a glass for each of us. Now, what does this wine taste like? You get apricot, I get peach. You like the acidity, I think it’s too much. You get a whiff of spearmint, I think it smells like wet stone and sage. But we agree it’s great with