{ SOMMjournal.com } 51 { austria } Let’s start with some subjective impressions: The wines of Domäne Wachau offer extraordinary brightness in their youth. Bursting with firm angular flavors that bump and jostle in a delightful—no, playful—romp across the palate. In early maturity they integrate into a chamber symphony in which the instruments can be clearly identified within the piece but the sum is even greater than the parts. Then with full maturity, the sheer hedonistic pleasure of great and exotic beauty takes control. Not skin-deep beauty but the beauty, grace and qualities of greatness. Flavors so silky and vibrant, so racy and erotic that dissection and analysis fails and we are purely smitten. Winemaker Heinz Frischengruber (left) andManaging DirectorRoman Horvath (right) at the Domäne Wachau winery. AT THE CROSSROADS OF History PHOTO COURTESY OF DOMÄNE WACHAU PHOTO COURTESY OF DOMÄNE WACHAU THE STELLAR WINES OF DOMÄNE WACHAU EXEMPLIFY AUSTRIA’S HISTORIC WACHAU REGION by Dan Vogel, CWS, CMS, Certified Sommelier Autumn in full swing in the Domäne Wachau vineyards.
Transcript
{ SOMMjournal.com } 51
{ austria }
Let’s start with some subjective impressions: The wines of Domäne Wachau offer extraordinary brightness in their youth. Bursting with firm angular flavors that bump and jostle in a delightful—no, playful—romp across the palate. In early maturity they integrate into a chamber symphony in which the instruments can be clearly identified within the piece but the sum is even greater than the parts. Then with full maturity, the sheer hedonistic pleasure of great and exotic beauty takes control. Not skin-deep beauty but the beauty, grace and qualities of greatness. Flavors so silky and vibrant, so racy and erotic that dissection and analysis fails and we are purely smitten.
Winemaker Heinz Frischengruber (left) and Managing Director Roman Horvath
(right) at the Domäne Wachau winery.
AT THE CROSSROADS OF
HistoryPHO
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THE STELLAR WINES OF DOMÄNE WACHAU EXEMPLIFY AUSTRIA’S HISTORIC WACHAU REGION
Domäne Wachau belongs in your wine program for several reasons. These are the some of the most versatile wines imagin-able, offering guest satisfaction on-premise as well as off-premise marketability. Built on ancient confidence backed by modern tech-nology, they over-deliver in the price-to-quality equation. Finally, the story is so compelling, the history so deep, that you cannot fail to respect the wine before you in the glass.
Standing on the north bank of the River Danube, the Austrian Alps to your right and the city of Vienna to your distant left, you gaze south into the frontier border of the Roman Empire. Here traveled the Huns, or Avars, under Attila. Before these vineyard
walls Turkish invaders ebbed and flowed like waves. Charlemagne pushed the Avars back into modern day Hungary and established the thirst for order and learning that forms the bedrock of Western civilization. In our own time, eighty miles to the northeast, the Iron Curtain kept generations of cousins behind armored fences and NATO bombs dropped several bridges spanning the Danube dur-ing the Bosnian war.
The Wachau Valley is centerfield in the never-ending push between East and West. A river of nine nations and seven national capitols, it is the route of progress, conquest and, of course, wine.
Domäne Wachau 2014 Grüner Veltliner Federspiel Terrassen Slightly muted dried fall grass yellow. Nose yields apricot pit, white peach and a subdued but tangible minerality. Very clean construction lines of specific flavors and solid, blocky acids. Clean finish of stone fruit character, classic white pepper notes and charcuterie spices including mustard seed, caraway and anise. An easy-drinking but fully pedigreed wine that shows its history and lineage.
Domäne Wachau 2014 Riesling Federspiel Terrassen Brilliant straw yellow with visible gas on entry into the glass. Granite and lean stone fruits couched in a bracing structure on the nose. Juicy apricot, green apple with more river stone minerality follows in the mouth. Sub-elements of lemongrass, white rose petal and a hint of ginger. Built for spice, wood fired grills and lighter colored proteins. Bring on the Chinese five-spice, caraway and fennel. In fact, go build a sausage of veal or pork with those spices and grill over mesquite.
Domäne Wachau 2010 Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Achleiten Dark, golden straw color tones, almost honeyed in appearance. Light honey-butter with orange blossom and pineapple on the nose. The mature fla-vors are fully integrated into a single line of flavor and texture. Apricot, pineapple, and mandarin orange fruit dominate the palette. Mineral tones are very subtle in the back-ground structure. Finish is all ripe apricot and round fat fruit flavors. Acids falling away mid-palette with bottle age still leave a long and flavorful finish. Beautiful unadorned by competing foods, enjoy this wine with good company and engaging conversation.
Domäne Wachau 2009 Riesling Smaragd Achleiten Brilliant clarity of color with a slight touch of gas to the sight. Nose shows fundamental fruit notes and very attractive light petroleum tones. On the palate, a cor-nucopia of peach, pear, nectarine, apricot and papaya explodes in an integrated flavor profile. Bright acidity pulls the just-ripe fruits into the viscous structure that deliv-ers a mouth filling wine experience. Here complex fruits leap into an erotic joining with blended Indian curries, Thai seafood dishes and Alsatian fois gras. A wine that—in a single glass—defines Riesling as a truly noble grape.
Domäne Wachau 2008 Riesling Smaragd Achleiten A rose petal and nectarine nose wafts out of a darkening straw color. On the nose light petroleum and honeydew plus secondary aromas revealing its age. The flavor attack combines a muted acid back-
ground with a full basket of not-quite-ripe tropical fruits. The delicate and feminine mouth feel seems an illusion to its strength. Clean not oily finish leaves you wondering what new exotic experience lays ahead. And where did that mint finish come from?
Domäne Wachau 2005 Riesling Smaragd Singerriedel This wine rejects standard dissection or description. So location-specific are the vineyard characteristics that one panelist’s mentor declared, “If you can’t identify Singerriedel, then hang up your tasting cup!” Mature coloring reminiscent of fall leaves greets the eye. Seductive sherry flavors of dark wood, very old leather and 100-year-old Grand Marnier surround your senses. If satisfaction has a flavor this is it. Dark ripe nectarine and mandarin orange integrate with the mature acids to form a palate of tightly woven soils, textures and flavors. You will have to try again and again to solve this puzzle.
The panel of Domäne Wachau wines available from importer Vin Divino. Note: These fabulous wines are at their best served at cellar temperature of 55 degrees.
Visionary ThinkingDomäne Wachau claims a birth year of 1715. By then, Austrian wine and its agricultural traditions were nearly a thousand years old. While walking the myriad small, mostly terraced, vineyard parcels that define Domäne Wachau, the flavor of history wells up beneath your feet. The moderating effect of the Danube melds the westerly Atlantic climate of central Europe and the Pannonian climate of Hungary. Here even the weather is torn between East and West.
Today, the delicate balance between the forces of nature and the forces of commerce provides the visionary thinking of a winery with ancient footing and validation. Practicing a philosophy of benevolent neglect, the winemakers know that no matter what comes down or up the river, the wines from these hallowed grounds will speak well.
Roman Horvath, Director of Domäne Wachau, holds the coveted Master of Wine designation. His approach is driven by a very broad appreciation for the world of wine. Not constrained by parochial bias, he drives the winery with strict vineyard standards echoed in the clarity of these hand-grown wines. In concert with the worldview of Horvath is winemaker Heinz Frischengruber. Born and raised in the Wachau Valley, Frischengruber brings a generational appreciation for the unique place on earth that is the Wachau.
To these men, wine is simple—but that’s not to say simplified. The mouth-filling, three dimensional experience provided by wines from ages-old Grüner Veltliner and Riesling grapes is not limited to flavors and textures; it also incorporates characteristics purposefully grown in the terraced vineyards, commonly at a density of 3,000 vines per acre. To enjoy the wine of Domäne Wachau is to take the history into yourself—and it is a delicious, if not exhilarating experience.
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Our panel convened at the appropriately titled Latitude 48 in Whitefish, Montana. Given that Vienna, Austria literally lies at the 48th parallel, half a world away, we live, work and play in a similar climate. Cheers to the 48th!
Our Panel from bottom to top: Jessica Dodd, CSW, Sales Representative for George’s Distributing of Montana; Kaleigh Brook Vrapi, CMS Level III (candidate) and owner of When in Rome restaurant, Bigfork, MT; Travis Manning, CMS Level I and Regional Manager for Glacier Restaurant Group Inc. Whitefish, MT; Dan Vogel, CMS Level II & CSW, Food & Beverage Director, Lake McDonald Lodge, Glacier National Park.
OUR PANEL
VINEA WACHAU WINE CLASSIFICATIONS Governing this twelve mile stretch of the River Danube is Vinea Wachau, the collective body that monitors the rigid quality standards of the Wachau region. Vinea Wachau allows very little technology to enhance their wines. Vehemently pure, this code embraces wine-growing as it was essentially a century ago: no anything, outside of human hands to care for and craft the vines and fruit. While it is tempting to combine the regulations and classifications of Germany with Austria, it is more accurate to compare them with the Alsace region of France. Here are the quality classifications unique to Vinea Wachau.
Steinfeder: Not exported, these wines are the lightest clas-sification and are consumed almost entirely within Austria.
Federspiel: Named after a local falcon, these wine require a must weight of 17degree KMW and a maximum of 12.5% alcohol by volume. They are considered strong wines with generous character.
Smaragd: Named after an emerald lizard that lives in the Wachau vineyards, these are the most coveted of all Wachau wines. With a minimum of 12.5% alcohol by vol-ume the wines are generally not sweet but exhibit a rich body in both weight and flavor.
