Most of my exposure to Riesling has been in wines from Germany and Alsace, two regions that are often viewed as the benchmark for how well that grape can perform. However, Riesling is grown across the world and I don’t want to be dismissive of how other countries are using it to craft wines. I’ve had some success with Riesling wines from Romania and the Finger Lakes of New York, but I seem to have skipped over another major Riesling stronghold in Austria. Well, we’ve just started carrying one at work, so now seems like a good time to check out Austrian Riesling.
This wine comes to us from Schloss Gobelsburg in NE Austria, part of the Kamptal wine region. The winery is built on the site of an 11th century castle, which was destroyed during the 15th century and replaced with a Renaissance manor. If I understand the history, it now belongs to a monastery, and is being leased by the current operators, who have been running the winery since the 90’s.
The winery has adopted a low-tech, hands-off, rustic approach to winemaking that embraces traditional practices. They produce three series of labels. Bottles in this series are part of the Schlosskellerei Gobelsburg brand, which represents, “the historical fundament of the winery.” This particular wine is produced from young vines, which they claim will represent the character of the grape more than the vineyard.
As for the wine, it had a very nice complexity, demonstrating a range fruit that started out as vaguely citrus and evolved into a pineapple flavor. Also, I found something I could only associate with tomato vine or, at least, how I’ve always imagined tomato vine would taste. I’m not usually one to embrace bizarre tasting notes, but I had distinct memories of standing in my parent’s garden, surrounded by the “green” smell. That’s not something I experience often, so it’s hard to disregard that, even if it is the kind of tasting note no one else may understand.
What I didn’t find was the characteristic petrol, or gasoline, odor that I was always told to look for in Riesling. I’ve always heard it’s more present in older wines, but I’ve found it in young bottles before. It makes me wonder if that character is less common in Austrian Riesling. As far as fruit set, most of the German Riesling I’ve tasted has a lime flavor, usually on the back end, that my mind latches onto. That was also absent here. The other major difference for me was how dry the wine was, drier than any German Riesling I’ve ever had.
I’ve always wondered how Austrian Riesling would compare to German, but I don’t think I expected so much difference as I found, which is pretty cool. The scope of how I understand Riesling can be expressed in wine has broadened significantly after one bottle. Once again, this is the advantage in trying new things. I don’t know when I’ll get back around to try another Austrian Rielsing, but I’m looking forward to that day.