Now that we're on the second day of VieVinum it's time to briefly reflect on the events so far. Yesterday was a very busy day - perhaps too busy. Huge numbers of people all crowded into the Hofburg resulted in a difficult tasting atmosphere. Also, for me, the wines were generally too cold - young wines (2009 mainly) served so cold the glasses frost are really difficult to taste. Having said that, there were some very good wines to taste.
I started with Martin Nigl, who had two styles on offer: wines from the Senftenberg Pirl vineyard, both gruner veltliner and riesling, and the Privat wines made from older vines, again both gruner veltliner and riesling. All were good but I found the intensity of varietal character on the privat wines to be superb. Then, following a tip from an Austrian friend i tried the wines of Martin Arndorfer. He had an interesting range of wines, starting with a blend of gruner and riesling, the Vorgeschmack. initially fruity and round, it finishes with a firm mineral note. Then two wines from vineyard selections, the Strasser Weinberge reserves. I though both of these were excellent, showing intense varietal character in each case. Then a few unusual wines - the leidenschaft range are barrel fermented, though only in old French oak. Both the riesling and gruner wines were good, but with a rounder style than the more normal steel-tank wines. He also let me taste two older vintages of the GV leidenschaft, the 2006 (spicy pepper style, still needs some time) and 2007 (really peppery). Finally, the Anna range, made only in even-numbered years (although he's now producing Anna sparkling in odd-numbered years). A blend of one-third each gruner, chardonnay and sauvignon blanc it's interesting. Lastly, i tried the wines of Paul Achs - his wines impressed me last year at a blaufrankisch tasting at Esterhazy. His Edelgrund Blaufrankisch had lovely, ripe fruits, quite intense with well-balanced rich tannins. The Spiegel BF is much firmer, with dark cherry and raspberry fruit, while the Ungerberg BF is ripe, round, full-bodied but almost sweet. very elegant. Pannobile is a blend of blaufrankisch, zweigelt and st laurent - very supple and round. Finally, his pinot noir has lovely pinot character, a little firm on mid-palate and finish but very good and long. All in all a good morning's tasting.
About Me
- DermotMW
- Dublin, Ireland
- Hi, I'm Dermot Nolan, and I became a Master of Wine (MW) in 1997, and resigned from the Institute of Masters of Wine in 2023 after being an MW for exactly 26 years. I opened a wine shop in Dún Laoghaire, Ireland, called The Wine Library, which closed in 2018, and this is my personal wine blog. I will do my utmost to be fair and responsible in my posts – please read my Who Pays article in re the ethics of wine trips and writing. I have worked in wine education, retail, and consultancy since 1990. I was a Director of the Institute of Masters of Wine (IMW) from 2008 to 2014 and was also a member of the Events Committee, founder of the Trips Committee, and member of the Governance Committee. Having had problems with potentially libellous comments from unidentifiable posters, I now require that if you post a comment, you must identify yourself properly or it won't be published. Please note that I do not review products or services on request so kindly don't ask. I value my independence and I believe my readers (few that they may be) do so also.
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