2009 Nigl Grüner Veltliner Freiheit

Get Your GrüVe On

Wine of the Week: Nigl's 2009 Grüner Veltliner Freiheit is young, lively and food-friendly.

By Elin McCoy | Monday, 01 November 2010 | 01:00

Nigl Grüner Veltliner Freiheit from Austria

Elin McCoy's Wine of the Week

2009 Nigl Grüner Veltliner Freiheit

Price: $18
Region: Kremstal, Austria
Grape: 100 percent grüner veltliner
Alcohol: 11.5 percent
Serve: As an aperitif and with all vegetables, salads, fish or light meats

On my recent six-day stay in Austria, I found myself falling in love with the country's signature grape, grüner veltliner, all over again. This example from the latest vintage, the 2009 Nigl Grüner Veltliner Freiheit, comes from Nigl, a producer on everyone's short list of the best. Quintessential fresh GrüVe (as the grape is nicknamed), it's delicate and peppery, with green, savory flavor notes and lemony acidity and a creamy texture.

Winemaker Martin Nigl was in the middle of the 2010 harvest the day I visited his tasting room in the winery's hotel/restaurant tucked at the foot of a steep, terraced, vine-covered hillside with a castle ruin on top.

As is typical for Austrian vintners, Nigl produces well over a dozen wines, including five grüners (a few from single vineyards), as well as rieslings, sauvignon blanc and even a couple of reds. The Freiheit, a blend of several vineyards and intended to be drunk young, is the perfect introduction to the grape. The richer, more powerful and transparent terroir-driven bottlings, some from 40- to 70-year-old vines, need age to show their best and are much more expensive and in short supply.

So are all the wines from Austria's most prestigious white wine region, the tiny Wachau, where vineyards seem to rise straight up from the winding Danube River. Nigl is in nearby Kremstal, which has similar soils and climate and more quality for the price.

Grüner burst onto the U.S. restaurant scene about 10 years ago, promoted heavily by savvy sommeliers. Its star has faded slightly since it was the latest hot thing, but it's still one of the most food-friendly wines around, able to tackle even hard-to-match artichokes and asparagus.

Elin McCoy is a wine and spirits columnist and author of "The Emperor of Wine: The Rise of Robert M. Parker, Jr. and the Reign of American Taste."

great article Elin and I agree about the GV

Really enjoyed the article and also Austria! Weren't those wines good! Really enjoyed your talk and look forward to your book release here. Donna Jackson http://wisequeens.squarespace.com/

a guest , November 01, 2010

Last Updated on Sunday, 31 October 2010 22:45