Nikolaihof, Gruner and Austria; part #1

At one time Gruner Veltliner was poised as wine's next coming. The sexiest wine on the planet. I purposely forgot about the wine and the grape over the years. Too much disappointment. Same old story. The wine suffered from th New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc syndrome--no identity, all of that green bean shit. Where was real Gruner? Yeasted out of its life. Eric Asimov just spent some time discussing Gruner's disappointments in his column and blog. I'm certainly not alone.He cited the wines flab. I cite, too much control and a wine that started to reach for the chardonnay drinker. What's more, is I found myself thinking; hey winemakers, could you please stop using the same yeast for your whites? Riesling and Gruner were narrowing in on each other and getting boring. What a fall from grace. Then at this winter's Return to Terroir tasting I became reacquainted with the wines of Nikolaihof. My first note? **Removes all bad Gruner from memory. Then I got more specific. '08 NIKOLAIHOF HEFEABZUG--very fresh. apple. complex finish. vibrant. Straight to the gut with no interference. Silver and floral. '06 NIKOLAIHOF IM WEINGEBIRGE Smaragd trocken--electric. licorice. subtle pineapple. (In part 2 of this post we'll come back to this word, electric) '08 GV M WEINGEBIRGE, Federspiel Gorgeous acidity, lively dancing, deep, herbal and pepper. So, obviously I'm all over those wines. Not 'over' the wines, but 'all over' them. When I tasted the Steiner Hund vineyard riesling, I'm likewise smitten. Need to taste more, I thought. But will I get to? Then TT and the Austrian Wine Board came to the rescue. Traveling with Terry Thiese, the importer who virtually birthed the 'grower champagne' movement in this country AND made Gruner Veltliner sound sexy was bound to be a needed life balm, but to go to Nikolaihof? A domaine that was going to cleanse me of GV skepticism was an inescapable draw. To hell with journalists on a hand out. I said yes, please and thank you! I spent a few days in Vienna on my own---see Wiener wine postZalto glasswareGasthaus Jell in Krems