Breakdown the Austrian Wine in Your Collection.

Kracher Scheurebe- 100%

Vino Me:
With your Austrians and Germans, you have over 230.
I assume that nearly all, and maybe all, are whites.
What % of your total cellar is white?

57% Red
43% White

VM

I would bet that this is one of the highest %s of whites on the board.
If you don't count Champagne, I would guess I have less than 2% white.

I've actually never had an Austrian wine. Can you recommend a good one that is readily available and not too pricey (~$25)?

I have seen exactly one bottle of Austrian wine for sale here. I did not buy it. Zero for me!

I have a few bottles of TBA/BA (maybe 6 bottles total), so less than 1% of my collection is Austrian.

From my TBA's there are 6 halve bottles left and we drank our last halve of ice wine last week. We gave most of what we had to my parents, because my mom likes something sweet every now and then.

I had quite some red Austrians but I guess there are only one or two bottles left. Some of them were pretty good, some were plain every day drinkers.

What I noticed in general was the pureness, the sanity of the wines, the fragrance, the clarity. Really enjoyable.

Just 3 Kracher TBAs I bought recently spur of the moment. I think one is Scheurebe and the other two are blends of Welschriesling and Chardonnay/Scheurebe. I have no experience with Austrian wines and would definately like to learn more about them.

B Squad,

The problem with Austrian wine is that they are pricey relative to german wine. Look at these posts which contain wines from the 2004 vintage. For the most part these wines will be showing up on shelves over the next 6-9 months. Note that the prices are whot the wineries were charging.

Hirtzberger
Knoll
FX Pichler
Other producers to look for include Rudi Pichler, Nigl and Prager.

VM

3 bottles: 1 GV, 1 Riesling and 1 Kracher TBA Welschriesling.

Along with my 4 Germans, my very modest collection is 13% German/Austrian.

15% German/Austrian/Hungarian if you count my lone bottle of Tokaji.

Germany and Austria account for 64% of my whites. (7 of 11)

I've only ever tasted one Austrian red, a Carnuntum. Didn't like it.

I've only ever tasted one German red, a Spatburgunder (Pinot Noir). I really liked it.

3 bottles of Kracher 3,4, & 12--- Two of the three bottles are Kracher Scheurebe (3 & 12)

Sadly, I don't have any right now - I drank my last bottle of '98 Nigl Piri Privat almost a year ago.
I was in serious Austrian mode in '00, 01 and '02, drinking Austrian whites on weekly basis - Nigl, Brundlemayer, Nikolaihof,Hirsch, Hiedler, you name it. Luckily we have good representation of Austrian wines here in SF. Since I'm not a big fan of sweet wines, I never really ventured into this whole Kracher madness(i understand it's a shortfall), concentrating mostly on Gruners in the $20-35 price range. These are some of the best white wines on the planet, imho.

Austria (15 bottles, 1.49%)

Burgenland (8 bottles, 0.79%)

Niederösterreich (5 bottles, 0.50%)

Styria (2 bottles, 0.20%)

I don't have a lot of Austrian unfortunatly.

Speaking about red, white or rose(mostly champagne rose), here's my break down:

Red (595 bottles & 4 pending, 59.37%)
White (353 bottles & 37 pending, 38.65%)
Rosé (18 bottles & 2 pending, 1.98%)

vino me, please don't break down so many wines, it would be better you send the bottles to me , if that

quote:

57% red - 43% white

meens you have total 535 bottles, we should not go and break down ports and tokaji




total 19 austrian,

only wachau - 100%

i like austrian wines, but always when i have money to get something, is there something else which attracs me more.

Riesling: 5 bottles = 100%

quote:

Originally posted by B Squad:
I've actually never had an Austrian wine. Can you recommend a good one that is readily available and not too pricey (~$25)?

Try some Gruner Veltiners. Some recommendations are Huber (try the "hugo"), and Schloss Wiengut Bockfliess

tsunami-

"535 bottles". I think the total bottles I have is a little over 900. In addition to white wine from Germany and Austria, I have various whites from the Loire, Italy, Champagne, Jerez, Tokaji and some domestic whites.

VM

sorry

No Austrian wine in my collection. I have had Austrian wine before, when visiting Vienna. It was excellent, but of course I was 16 years old at the time, and anything with alcohol in it was excellent at that age.

I have a lot,- but my numbers don't count as I import Austrian wines and I hope it's ok to mention that fact here on the forum.

Vino Me: I agree that some Austrian wines are very pricey in the US and I hope we can contribute to changing that. Some of the younger producers of Austria like Johann Donabaum and Franz Joseph Gritsch are producing wines that reach those of the masters you mentioned while their prices do not.

A few days ago I found a Hirtzberger 1999 at a store here in California. At $50 this one was a steal and it went home with me. No way you'd find that bottle in an Austrian store,- the top rated 99's were sold out the same year.

Stephan


winemonger.com

Stephan.

Interesting that you posted. You must have noticed that I mentioned your store and posted a link to it in this thread last week. I recently visited the Feiler-Artinger winery and another board member asked me a question about the wines of Wenzel. Looks like you have a very unique collection of Austrian wines in your store.

VM

Hmmm. None.

But my dad got a bottle for his birthday recently. I'll have to shoplift a sip.

quote:

You must have noticed that I mentioned your store

Vino Me,

Yes, a friend pointed me to your post on Feiler but it did not seem appropriate to jump in as the importer and a newbie on the board.

A great post by the way and not just from the perspective of the importer of Feiler and Wenzel.

Thank you for the kind words regarding our collection of wines from Austria. When we started we went after winemakers that had acquired a name at home but not abroad and we were lucky with other wineries like Feiler who already had representation on the East coast but wanted to expand into other states.

What have been the most satisfying moments though were those of getting previously unknown wines rated high. Take Michael Wenzel: His Ruster Ausbruch SAZ made it into the Wine Enthusiast Top 100. Kudos to the critics at the Enthusiast. With less confident critics it will often take years for the quality of a winery to "sink in".


Stephan

Any of you guys familiar with 2002 Polz Chardonnay Steirische Klassik ?
I was given 2 bottles but haven't had the chance to try it.
I heard that Schwarzeneger carries the whole line up from this producer in his restaurant(didn't even know he has(d) a restaurant )

I keep my spare anti-freeze in the shed.

I only have 7-8 Austrians in stock. Only one Grüner Vetliner and the rest are stickies. Austrian wines are great but there is an availability issue...

52 by last count

All but one are sweet (mainly TBA) wines

A big, fat zero. And no plans to change it.

quote:

Originally posted by Vino Me:
B Squad,

The problem with Austrian wine is that they are pricey relative to german wine. Look at these posts which contain wines from the 2004 vintage. For the most part these wines will be showing up on shelves over the next 6-9 months. Note that the prices are whot the wineries were charging.

Hirtzberger
Knoll
FX Pichler
Other producers to look for include Rudi Pichler, Nigl and Prager.

VM

Thanks VM. I'll keep an eye out for these producers.

quote:

Any of you guys familiar with 2002 Polz Chardonnay Steirische Klassik ?

Polz is one of the better producers in the wine region of Southern Styria (and I say that without selling his wines). Styria is known for fruit-forward wines and for world-class Sauvignon Blancs. Around these parts, Chardonnay is often called Morillon, which for a long time was believed to be a separate varietal.

In Styria "Klassik" (or sometimes spelled the international way: "Classic") stands for young, fresh and fruity wines. These are typically meant to be drunk young and will show a lot of fruit and a healthy amount of acidity. In a more technical sense, "klassik" stands for traditional Styrian vinification in steel tanks. Klassic is not an official classification, but it is widely used in Styria.

"Lagen", on the other hand, stands for wines which are typically high-end and have been aged in large or small barrels. Lagen wines will typically be higher in alcohol and age well.

2002 was a year high in botrytis (a "difficult year") in Styria and you should drink these Classic Styrians ASAP. Due to their bright acidity and forward fruit, Styrian wines go very well with food. You might want to try these bottles by Polz with fish or shellfish.

Stephan Schindler


Winemonger Imports

Once i had an opportunity to taste Polz's Sauvignon Blanc "Hochgrassnitzberg" Reserve, and i must agree with MONGER on SB from that region.

I have 3 bottles or .85% of my cellar - all Krachers.

quote:

Originally posted by Board-O:
Kracher Scheurebe- 100%

Ditto.
I used to have some Gruners...but I drank them...

Austrian none, but at the moment am sucking on a 2004 Scheurebe auslese from the pfalz. A not yet bottled gift from the wine maker, Felix Waldkirch. Delicious. Bought a six pack of the '03 Scheurebe Spatlese splits (gold medal for what it's worth) at the winery for $5/bottle. Wish I had more.

quote:

MONGER

Thank you for your input, Stephan.

Btw, my name is Stephan aswell