A slightly different approach for this meeting as Mike and Pam had chosen one white and one red wine for the tasting. We started first with the white wine which was a 2009 Grüner Veltliner from the Wachau valley in Austria.
Grüner Veltliner is a variety of white wine grape grown primarily in Austria, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. It has a reputation of being a particularly food-friendly wine. It is made into wines of many different styles - much is intended for drinking young in the Heuriger (bars serving new wine) of Vienna, a little is made into sparkling wine, but some is capable of long aging. The steep, Rhine-like vineyards of the Danube west of Vienna produce very pure, minerally Grüner Veltliners intended for laying down. It is sometimes said that Grüner Veltliner dates back to Roman times and that its name is derived from Veltlin (Valtellina) in northern Italy. However, the current name appeared in a document for the first time in 1855 - before that time it was known as Weißgipfler or Grüner Muskateller. Only by the 1930s was Grüner Veltliner established as the standard name of the grape. Until the Second World War it was regarded as just another Austrian grape, it took Lenz Moser's Hochkultur system of vine training to really get the best out of it, and it expanded quickly in plantation from the 1950s to later become Austria's most planted variety.
The Wachau is an Austrian valley with a landscape of high visibility formed by the Danube river. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations of Lower Austria, located midway between the towns of Melk and Krems. The gorge is around 40 kilometres (25 mi) in length between two high plateaus ((2,300- 3000ft) and as a result has a micro climate whioh otherwise would be found much further south. A well-known place and tourist attraction is Dürnstein, where King Richard the Lion-Heart of England was held captive by Duke Leopold V. The architectural elegance of its ancient monasteries, castles and ruins combined with the urban architecture of its towns and villages and the cultivation of vines as an important agricultural produce are the dominant features of the valley. In December 2000 it was also recognised as World Heritage site.
The Domäne Wachau itself is a cooperative with close to 440 hectares of vineyards. These vineyards are found on steep terraces reinforced by old dry stone walls above the Danube and are part of the World Cultural Heritage site.
The wine was well liked by the group and gained an overall score of 8.2. Rated a really good wine with which to celebrate the arrival of summer. Pure fruit flavours, no oak, and lovely aromas of white flowers, white pepper
The second wine was also well liked by the group and gained and overall score of 8.1. This was a 2009 Primitivo di Manduria from Paolo Leo in Puglia , southern Italy. The Primitivo grape is a speciality of Puglia, where the warm Mediterranean sun coaxes the fruit to full, rich ripeness, giving the wine a smooth and intense flavour. This particular wine was a good example, with poise and refinement despite its full-bodied style.The colour is an intense ruby red with the wine has a bouquet of ripe dark berry fruits, with blackcurrants, blackberries and black cherries bursting through on the palate. The forty year old vines used are small, free standing bushes, giving a very low yield of just 1.5kg of hand picked fruit per vine. The wine spends 6 months in French oak barriques
The vineyards of the Primitivo DOC Manduria lie between the towns of Manduria and Avetrana, deep in the Salento territory of Puglia, down in the heel of Italy. Paoloa Leo established the Vinagri vineyard in 1989 with the intention to preserve all the old wine-making traditions and reproduce the tastes and flavours of the past.
Both wines are available from Waitrose at £6.36 and £9.99 respectively
Our next meeting is at Jack’s on August 16th 2:00 pm
Grüner Veltliner is a variety of white wine grape grown primarily in Austria, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. It has a reputation of being a particularly food-friendly wine. It is made into wines of many different styles - much is intended for drinking young in the Heuriger (bars serving new wine) of Vienna, a little is made into sparkling wine, but some is capable of long aging. The steep, Rhine-like vineyards of the Danube west of Vienna produce very pure, minerally Grüner Veltliners intended for laying down. It is sometimes said that Grüner Veltliner dates back to Roman times and that its name is derived from Veltlin (Valtellina) in northern Italy. However, the current name appeared in a document for the first time in 1855 - before that time it was known as Weißgipfler or Grüner Muskateller. Only by the 1930s was Grüner Veltliner established as the standard name of the grape. Until the Second World War it was regarded as just another Austrian grape, it took Lenz Moser's Hochkultur system of vine training to really get the best out of it, and it expanded quickly in plantation from the 1950s to later become Austria's most planted variety.
The Wachau is an Austrian valley with a landscape of high visibility formed by the Danube river. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations of Lower Austria, located midway between the towns of Melk and Krems. The gorge is around 40 kilometres (25 mi) in length between two high plateaus ((2,300- 3000ft) and as a result has a micro climate whioh otherwise would be found much further south. A well-known place and tourist attraction is Dürnstein, where King Richard the Lion-Heart of England was held captive by Duke Leopold V. The architectural elegance of its ancient monasteries, castles and ruins combined with the urban architecture of its towns and villages and the cultivation of vines as an important agricultural produce are the dominant features of the valley. In December 2000 it was also recognised as World Heritage site.
The Domäne Wachau itself is a cooperative with close to 440 hectares of vineyards. These vineyards are found on steep terraces reinforced by old dry stone walls above the Danube and are part of the World Cultural Heritage site.
The wine was well liked by the group and gained an overall score of 8.2. Rated a really good wine with which to celebrate the arrival of summer. Pure fruit flavours, no oak, and lovely aromas of white flowers, white pepper
The second wine was also well liked by the group and gained and overall score of 8.1. This was a 2009 Primitivo di Manduria from Paolo Leo in Puglia , southern Italy. The Primitivo grape is a speciality of Puglia, where the warm Mediterranean sun coaxes the fruit to full, rich ripeness, giving the wine a smooth and intense flavour. This particular wine was a good example, with poise and refinement despite its full-bodied style.The colour is an intense ruby red with the wine has a bouquet of ripe dark berry fruits, with blackcurrants, blackberries and black cherries bursting through on the palate. The forty year old vines used are small, free standing bushes, giving a very low yield of just 1.5kg of hand picked fruit per vine. The wine spends 6 months in French oak barriques
The vineyards of the Primitivo DOC Manduria lie between the towns of Manduria and Avetrana, deep in the Salento territory of Puglia, down in the heel of Italy. Paoloa Leo established the Vinagri vineyard in 1989 with the intention to preserve all the old wine-making traditions and reproduce the tastes and flavours of the past.
Both wines are available from Waitrose at £6.36 and £9.99 respectively
Our next meeting is at Jack’s on August 16th 2:00 pm
