Take to the Slopes with the Wines of Austria

         My latest column for Checkout Magazine was on the Wines of Austria. I opened with, 'A few years back I was presented with a cd by Austrian wine producer Willi Opitz titled ‘The Sounds of Wine’. It was a recording of his wines as they fermented in his cellars in Illmitz near the Hungarian border. Clearly it was unique!

         This month the AC Wine Club had a look at five wines from Austria. Unique. It's a word that sits comfortably alongside most of what Austria produces. Others are Interesting, Quality and Very Food Friendly.

The white Gruner Veltliner makes up about 30% of the Austrian trade. While its hallmarks include crisp, fine acidity, peach blossom and a spiced, long finish this months' two wines from Laurenz V showed just how versatile it's wines can be.

    

Laurenz V, Singing Gruner Veltliner 2013

Blossom bouquet, gentle fresh fuit, rich crisp palate and a fine finish with distinct hints of spice.

Universally liked by the Club. Excellent lifestyle wine. Would be fabulous 'By the Glass' or at a wine bar lunch.

Laurenz V, Charming Gruner Veltliner 2008

Yes. 2008!  Does this grape age well and if so, what happens to it?  The Laurenz V website tells us that 2008 was a 'winemakers vintage'. It was a perfect harvest and the fruit taken for this wine from the Kamptal Region spent 6 months on its lees in stainless steel tankes before bottling.

Obvious darkening with slight tawny hints but still clear and attractive. Nose has some damp earth elements and a bit of empty cigarette box allied to a persistent ripe peach skin. Fabulous alert palate with soft fruit and plenty of it supported by a rich acidity. The finish was mellow! The middle palate here is truly fabulous. Does Gruner age? Yes it does!! Or at least this Charming 2008 has. (Distributed By Gilbey/Gleeson)

Domane Wachau Terrassen Riesling Federspiel 2015

Wachau is reputed to be one of the most beautiful wine regions in the world. Domane Wachau is a co-op in the region and takes grapes from about 400 local farmers. That sort of makes it very, very influential. Good thing then that it's wines are so good. (recently taken on by Cassidy Wines for the Irish market)

TheTerrassen series of wines are made from grapes grown on rocky sites that are in themselves too small to make a wine. (The 'Federspiel' is a local designation of ripeness and roughly translates into about a 12.5%vol potential and uses the falcon as its sigil.) 

Absolutely fabulous wines. Loads of juicy citrus fruits with an immmensely impressive, brilliant and  balanced acidity. This is all about ripeness, freshness and length and does not show any developed Riesling effects such as old cheeses etc. Very much one for New World style aficionados.

Rabl Steinhaus Riesling Kamptal DAC 2013

Imported by O'Briens Wines this is a classic where acidity meets rich ripe fruit and fair dose of ageing Riesling bouquets where whiffs of sewing machine oil fumes are noticeable. Love it. 

The term 'Minerality' is tossed around the wine trade often without having any apparent meaning. Here's a wine that might explain it! Terroir is where a wine comes from. It is the totality of its genesis. Sometimes this throws up a grape where fruit ripeness balances in with acidity in a way reminiscent of licking  freshly split limestone. I'm not talking flint here but 'tongue tingles'. That's minerality and this wine has it in abundance.   

Heinrich Red Burgenland 2015

I am an absolute fan of a number of the red grapes grown in Austria - I always hanker after St Laurent and love the Zweigelt. This Heinrich Red (Liberty Wines) is a blend where Zweigelt is to the fore (followed by Blaufrankisch and St Laurent) and shows very well with its light, almost austere, palate entry only to blossom into fresh bramble fruit. This in turn brings it back to the ripe and freshly scented bouquet. Interesting colour - rich cherry!  Really fine example of a modern wine trade. Burgenland, and epecially the Neusiedlersee in SE Austria, is home to 'ripeness'. As such, it is capable and produces some of the finest dessert wine styles in the world. It also ripens red grapes!! 

                   

The AC Wine Club meets on the first Monday of each month

Village Centre, Ardclough Co Kildare.

We know nothing. We learn lots.

Exploring Grapes in Ardclough contd.

The AC Wine Club at Ardclough           November 2016

Another great night where we explore grapes and their wine styles on the first Monday of every month.  

Essay South Africa 2014

Chenin Blanc  … with a touch of Viognier                                              O’Briens Wines

O’Brien’s Wines supply this label to their on-trade customers only ie restaurants and hotels. The name Essay is a play on the SA abbreviation for South Africa. It’s an excellent wine (as we would expect from O’Briens!) with the crisp Chenin balanced beautifully by a touch of peachy Viognier. We all ‘found’ distinct lanolin/wet wool at the edge of the bouquet – that’s good!

Paredes Crete 2015

Dafni                                                                              
Marks&Spencer        €15.00

     

This is from Greece and has a very obvious bouquet where ‘Torrontés rose petal’ meets ‘Gewürztraminer lychee’. Fabulous wine for those who like perfume! Beyond that it’s a credit to Greece (where white wines dominate local drinking patterns). Pity we don’t see more wines from Greece.

Silverleaf South Africa 2015                                                           

Dunnes Stores €8.99

Merlot  
Fabulous value. Soft and charming. Also, clean as a whistle fruit. Good to see.

  

Gianni Gagliardo Barbera d’Alba 2014                                        Independents  €26.00

Barbera

Brilliant winemaking from Gagliardo in Piedmont, NW Italy. Barbera is the grape and it’s a soft and concentrated wine with endless depth of flavours each of which threatens to be very serious but then pulls back and becomes charming instead.  

Gianni Gagliardo Barolo 2012                                                       Independents  €52.00
Nebbiolo

Barolo is the king of Italian wines. If they’re any good at all they don’t come cheap! They are however and experience in a bottle and Gagliardo’s is no exception. This wine is very modern with accessible fruit to the fore and lots of intense structure hidden well in the background. Bouquet is classic warmed asphalt and palate is rich fruit, acid, tannin and alcohol. The balance is excellent and it will keep from many, many years.

The AC Wine Club has a New Venue

Earlier this month the Ardclough Community Council took over the recently emptied school house in Ardclough. The new St Annes NS was finally opened. In association with the VEC the Community Council has now begun a series of courses ranging from 'Computers for the Terrified' to 'Yoga'. I dropped in this morning to look at the old school with a view to using it as a venue for the Ardclough Wine Club (otherwise known and the AC Wine Club).  It's perfect.

 

The astute, observant and possibly wary, of you will know that the Club didn't meet at all last year. I know. Not at all! Not very good. As all good politicians say though, let's move forward and get the Club going again.   

I propose to market the idea that we meet on the first Wednesday of each month at 8.00pm beginning on Wednesday the 6th November.

As before there will be a nominal charge on the evening of €5.00

I will supply glassware and wines until we organise a better system

Leave a message of interest for me on 0876919191 or indeed at kevin@kevinecock.ie

If there is sufficiant interest I also intend to begin weekly Wine Appreciation courses up in Ardclough in the New Year. Ardclough; a wine hub? Absolutely. 

First Night Out for the New Ardclough Wine Club - Call us AC for short!

Welcome to the AC Wine Club. Our first night will be on Thursday the 6th April. Our theme, as always, will be populist and so what better way to begin than to look at wines that are based on widely available and likeable grapes!

This Club is a new venture based on the age old premise that wine is fun as well interesting!

Wine Clubs work because they bring people and wine together in a setting less formal than the classroom.

The AC Club was first suggested by students at my Wine School in 2009......it's taken me a while! Oh, I'm Kevin Ecock and I'll run the AC Club for the first year.

  

The inaugural meeting of the AC Club will take place on the first Thursday of April 2011 at the Ardclough GAA at 8.00pm

How does it work?

  

Once a month for ten months of the year (no-one will come in the summer!) we will get together to Swirl, Spit and sometimes Swallow. There will be at least six wines shown, to a theme, each month. So, Rocking Reds from the Rhone, Stunning Style from the McLaren Vale or Sparkling Wonders of the World may indeed all feature.

  

An expert - most likely me! - will guide the group along. Everyone will be expected to shout out, criticise, praise, damn, remember and often enjoy as many wines as we can get around to. This is easily the best and least expensive way to try loads of wine styles at all price levels. This will not be a stuffy Club and is suitable for absolute beginners!

  

Membership will only cost 50Euro per year plus 5Euro per evening. So even if we turn up every month through the whole year the total cost will only come to about a hundred. In the meantime I can guarantee that you will have easily tasted in excess of a thousand Euros worth of vino! It's that simple - oh, and along the way you will transform yourself into an accomplished wine taster. Now, that's value.

    

Contact me at 087 6919191 or at  kevin@kevinecock.ie