Austrian Delights

575 Austrian Wines Reviewed

by Tom Hyland, tnapawine@aol.com

Having worked diligently through our annual tasting of Austrian wines, probably the largest tasting of Austrian wines ever conducted outside of Austria, we found dozens of impressive offerings, which was no surprise. Despite the unpromising 2002 vintage conditions that produced most of the wines we tasted (Biblical scale flooding), Austria's steep hillside vineyards were up to the challenge of making delicious wines that at the top end are delicious for early drinking.

Everyone knows that Gruner Veltliner is the signature grape of the country and although we did find some truly outstanding efforts, this was the exception and not the rule as most were from the 2002 vintage, which produced many delicious wines, but suffer only in comparison with the outstanding 2001s. We gave our highest marks here to the 2002 Brundlmayer Ried Lamm bottling (91 points), a lush offering with exotic flavors of guava and golden apples. Another Brundlmayer Gruner, the Alte Reben bottling (90), also featured vibrant acidity and lovely floral aromas. We also awarded 90 points to Gruners from Wimmer-Czerny, Josef Schmid, Birgit Eichinger, Erich Machherndl and Josef Sonnhof.

What truly delighted us was the performance of the Sauvignon Blancs. These are vibrantly flavored wines with expressive herbaceousness and fine intensity of fruit. Erwin Sabathi had the best showing with one wine receiving 91 points (the 2002 Poharnig) and two others receiving 90 points (the '02 Pössnitzberg and the ’01Merveilleux). These three wines offered dried pear fruit along with other exotic flavors ranging from bell pepper to bay leaf, asparagus and cilantro. These are distinctive Sauvignon Blancs that are unique and should share center stage with the finest examples from Sancerre and New Zealand. Here's hoping that Austria gets better known for this varietal!

Finally, here is a tip of the cap to a few producers that have consistently performed at very high levels in our tastings: Domaine Wachau for top notch affordable Riesling; Brundlmayer for Gruner Veltliner and Riesling; Erich & Walter Polz for Sauvignon Blanc; Josef Schmid for Gruner Veltliner and Riesling; Allram for Riesling and Gruner; Eichinger for Riesling and Gruner and Leo Hillinger for some of the most expressive red wines from anywhere in the world.