2025 AUSTRIA NOTES

Went to Austria to see my friends. My friends make wine, as it happens, so I speed-tasted wines I’ll taste in greater depth when the samples arrive several months from now. That will also be the time to recount a few remarkable conversations I had with producers, most prominently with Hiedler. Why not here and now? Because we’re already near 9,000 words, and I see this report as something along lines of what chefs call “quick-and-dirty.”

But before we get to the wines, two things:

One is to tell you that my erstwhile “agent” in Austria – Peter Schleimer - has had a parting of the ways with my successors. It was cordial, to hear it told. When this thing began back in 1993 (sheesh!) most of the growers had never exported, many of them spoke little to no English, and I needed to learn that the diplomacies needed to work with German growers didn’t always translate here in Austria, and Peter shielded me from most – alas not all – the mistakes I’d eventually make.

Peter is also the editor-in-chief of the superb wine magazine Vinaria, and so he has a capacious view over the grower community. Many times I asked Peter “I’m looking for (XYZ),” and he would make suggestions and help assemble samples so I could triage. These days everyone speaks better English than I do, and they all know the ropes, and the logistics run smoothly enough that any babysitting is no longer needed. Peter himself is busier than ever with a variety of projects, and in short, it was time.

That doesn’t mean I’m indifferent. How can I be? Peter is a dear long-time friend and none of this could have happened (or it would have happened clumsily) without him. So I have that end-of-an-era feeling, and I’m trying not to lapse into curdly nostalgia.

The second thing I would describe as mixed feelings. That can mean one of two things; in my case it means two strong feelings in conflict with each other. Until I flew over, I wondered whether I’d “written past the ending,” as writers sometimes do. Was I walking long-trodden ground, and if so why, and did I need to be doing it? Yet once I was there I didn’t want to leave. I saw fourteen old suppliers and more saliently, old friends. It is truly wonderful to visit those relationships free of any mercantile subtexts and the inevitable “politics” they entail. Now it’s just about sentiment, of which there is much, and of course the wines. One after the other I came away from a visit thinking “What a wonderful person this is, and how fine it is to simply relax together.” It is truly a benediction at this time of my life, a grace I neither presumed nor anticipated.

The growers were happy about their new vintage, notwithstanding how miserably labor-intensive it was to produce. They had every right to be stoked. 2024 is exceptionally good, at least for the whites, at least at this stage, and for Grüner Veltliner it’s a candidate for greatness.

In keeping with the surface-skimming nature of this report, I’ll restrain any great details. The trade will provide those, ably. But, the striking fact of the ’24 whites is their consistent and amazing density of extract. You’d start tasting and think yes, fine, and then you’d be ambushed by a mid-palate so dense and solid-seeming it felt like a concentrate of vinosity, like a demi-glace of the wine as you drank the wine. Naturally it led to the utmost solidity and length of finish. It was a sort of antonym to the ‘23s, which were all zip and vim and exterior contour. 2024 is more interior, richer, and yet this is absolutely tactile – not metaphorical. You’ll see.

Rieslings sometimes had an aroma like botrytis but which wasn’t botrytis. I’ll need to study how this could be. I asked many times, “What aromas mimic those of botrytis?” but never received an authoritative answer. Riesling also seemed more demure than GV, yet many Rieslings enacted a tangible crescendo on the palate, so that they did a sort of Stairway To Heaven thing where you’d have thought “Who expected that?”

I only hope the plummeting Dollar and the insane tariffs do not depress the market for these ‘24s, because I haven’t been this excited by an Austrian vintage for a decade or longer (bearing in. mind I didn’t taste the ‘21s in their youth).

In the sequence I tasted them, and please remember, the notes (and the “plusses”) are provisional pending deeper exposure. That said, after 45 years of tasting, I doubt I was wrong very often.

OTT:

A bunch of us around the table; Bernhard Ott and two of his staff, plus two writers from VINARIA (one of them Peter Schleimer) plus dinky old me.

Rosalie 24. Not one of the “fetching” rosés; rose-hippy and more along lines of Heidi’s. It’s salty and delicately earthy. Kudos to him for not making a pretty wine.

GV Am Berg 24 is curiously vegetal and angular, not typical for this usually-polite wine. Others noticed it too. I hope all of us are mistaken, as this entry-level wine is how many people “know” Ott.

GV Fass 4 (13%alc) is a leap ahead, even more than usual, firm yet fluffy, lots of loess inference but also a bit of bite. As if an affect of solidity. Certainly a phenolic gravel on the finish – yet the wine has a point to make.

GV 23 Gmirk  (I wonder if the glass smells like cupboard, or if it’s just another wine destroyed by the Zalto Universal…), in any case the wine has the not unpleasant coarseness of Etna Bianco or Assyrtiko… – it’s karg, (barren), stark, seriously salty and with white spices  (ginger, lemon grass). Falls under the heading of “quite interesting.” 

GV 23 Brenner is classy and multi dimensional. Almost a disciplined Pinot Gris mid palate along with classic GV coriander/nutmeg and loessy sweetness. ONE PLUS. 

GV 23 Kirchtal starts out metallic, extreme anise, the amphibolite signature (though that soil’s not in play) in a way that recalls Steinmassel or Steinhaus. Yet the palate is otherwise; skipping, bright, vetiver in its rooty form, into a lovely finish. A classy wine, especially in its hale texture.

Moving to the Crus –

GV 23 Der Ott is again, curiously grassy/herbal, like a wild SB, yet again the palate is otherwise, though it’s as taut as I’ve ever known it. Stretched to the breaking point, it whips along like a flavory zephyr, yet there’s a hint of mineral complexity in the middle and again on the finish. A tight bud at present. 

GV 22  Spiegel is wonderful, the classic hard jewel in a soft setting, along with the whole panoply of sweet-green smells, and a gorgeously lime-powdery salty finish. It’s this “type” of wine at its best.  TWO PLUSSES.  

GV 22 Stein has an immediately lovely complex fragrance and a palate that shows, in one fell swoop, how great GV can be. And you don’t have to be “trained” to appreciate it. TWO PLUSSES.  

GV 22 Rosenberg Adds its bricky element to the charming delivery of these ‘22s; woodruff, tomato leaf, lamb, sencha; quite a range of aromas. Capaciously juicy and utterly addictive, with a dusty delineation of absurd intricacy, and an echoey finish. Interestingly vertical for a wine so broadly textured. TWO PLUSSES.

23 WELSCHRIESLING is a zippy tasty mutha. A glug-glug-glugger.

23 Moritz Ott  Blaufränkisch is broad, tasty and bloody, chocolatey in the Merlot type but salty/zizzy in the BF type. An interesting glugger. Huge fun with the usual grub.

THE FAMOUS 17 GV, tasting for the first time in bottle, is less Raveneau than Coche or one of the Chassagne guys. Comes from the gravelly sections of Spiegel – has 11.7% alc! And a haunting finish that whispers insistently. Has become a TWO PLUS wine in bottle. Finest caramel and chicken stock.

SETZER

Following a spotty range of ‘23s, this may be the best-ever vintage I tasted here; at least as impressive as the 21s.

GV 24 Fliegengewicht is creamy, nubby, like a gelatin of GV, with lovely saltiness and surprising length. Hard to resist this. Glug-glug-glug!

GV 24 Ausstich is precisely what it should be and ever was; a perfect mid-weight GV that’s both utterly delicious and structurally interesting. ONE PLUS. 

GV 24 Hohenwarth  is darker, like dark bread, plus it’s more peppery (tho none of these are pronouncedly peppery) and very salty. It’s “as good” as the Ausstich but less gulpable.

24 GV Kronberg (DAC-reserve) is excellent, best since the ’21, of which it isn’t far behind; rich and peppery and complete, among Hans’ best GVs.  TWO PLUSSES. 

24 GV Kirchengarten  is his GV that feints toward Riesling, with the verticality of Renner, a tic grassy in this case, but a delightful coolness and introverted mineral. A gauzy white bride of GV, absorbing and deliberate finish. ONE PLUS (AT LEAST)

24 GV Ried Laa has its coconut cream and rice-pudding and in this case, rampantly salty mineral. These are cask-samples but potentially as good as anything he’s ever made. ONE PLUS

Roter Veltliner 24 Symphoniker is a pleasant little wine, a splash of water on a hot face, and a slight bit vegetal.

RV 24 Kreimelberg is a spice bomb, rich and full of collagen and root-veggies.

Riesling 24 is a bit aloof and diffident aromatically but salty and clinging on the palate, a slight grassiness, a lot of lemon lift, may be bottle sick but a scrupulous and classic Riesling.

BERGER

The big change here over the last few years is the move from cultured yeast to sponti fermentations. You give away a certain amount of charm and gain something animated differently. Is it a loss or a gain? Both, I’d say.

GV 24 Liter shows again why this is the best available quality for this segment; a prototype for light GV yet with substance.

GV 24 Gedersdorf  has an utterly adorable aroma and is a charmingly aloof GV, with minerality and middle; finer though less forthright than the Liter; its expression is more pointed but less festive.

24 GV Loessterassen is back in form, with contour and saltiness and lots of fülle for its medium weight. Entirely honorable. 

22 GV “Optimus Terrae” (just released) is finely smoky and savory; the palate is quite exotic and has basically departed “GV” as we think we know it. I love it and would have no idea what it was, tasted blind. ONE PLUS. 

GV 22 Moosburgerin  is a fine ’22 in its relish-y texture; spent a year in 500l acacia, shows it, and nothing to object to; almost a viognier touch. Again an outlier for GV but a wonderfully lickable wine.  ONE PLUS.

GV 21 Wieland is…odd. Aromas like wet wool…but the palate is nearly stunning, nearly – with 14.5% it’ll always have to struggle. An interesting dud, especially considering the potential of ’21.

24 Muscat (12.5%) hissing catty aroma, sharp and dark on the palate – but all of this is good! The finish is worth the price of admission. He ascribes it to the sponti, but whatever it is the wine is compellingly original and superb. ONE PLUS.

23 Riesling Spiegel  is a cool lemony cressy Riesling with lots of lees and mineral scree. Almost 4 months on the fine lees wouldn’t quite explain it. This all-steel wine avoids every issue of 23 – this finish is exceptional, and the length is striking, the lemony shellfishy umami is hard to fathom. When you have it all the way through – TWO PLUSSES. 

Riesling 23 Pfaffenberg is impressive in its way, but maybe too angular and cornery; fragrance is good but he’s still finding his way here. Might be a ’23 thing, but even with an attractive aroma the wine is in a kind of strife.

23 Weisser Burgunder Altmandl is an oaky marionette on the nose but a caramelly golden retriever on the palate. No oak in fact! But malo w/o diacetyl. It’s a fun wine of its kind and I’d drink it happily and with relief at the many mistakes it avoided.

HIRSCH

It was rather a chaos at Hirsch, with the entire 500-year old house under construction, and Hannes needing to curtail the visit to account for an unplanned funeral to which he needed to drive. Plus it was raining. So we crowded into a little room I’d never been in, and since I was current with the wines, I suggested we just grab any random bottle and simply sit and talk. Vintners aren’t like that, as I ought to have known. There must be wine! So Hannes brought out his entire group of library releases, plus the current vintages of his GV Ried Grub, and sat there while workmen came and went every few seconds and he himself was called away constantly. I offered to leave but he wouldn’t hear of it.

The thing is, all of the wines demanded attention, and many were superb, and one was sublime. My “notes” are feeble because how could I concentrate? I know, poor me. But the wines deserved better than I could give. I’ll try to clean up the notes but honestly they’ll still suck. I’m remembering how it was to slug directly from a bottle of 1953 La Tâche – I kid you not – in the parking lot of a restaurant in Ithica, NY.  This was a little like that.

In any event….

GV 2017 Lamm (late release)  It’s smoky as the 17s are, an earnestly deep wine; even keeled but rich and finely textured, a really superb year for this site, showing pixilations of flavor on what can sometimes be a brutish wine. TWO PLUSSES

Riesling 2017 Heiligenstein is a real blast of terroir-sweetness; mega-mango; the sleek dryness of the wine comes as a small shock, super smoky, peppery minerality; excellent to drink now but tertiaries are still lying in wait. ONE PLUS.  It was a lesson in the interaction of two particularities, vintage and terroir, such that Lamm benefited and Heiligenstein brooded.

TRILIOGY OF GRUB GV –

2023- a proper vintage for this, which is rarely so delineated or articulate; looking at the range of his GV 23s this may be the best; it has length, character, focused in an analog way. Easily ONE PLUS. 

2022- more typical, which is say a little lumpen, but it’s savory and rotund, the antonym to its neighbor Renner, and if you like the whomp effect you’ll crave this. For me it is good in its obtuse heavy-handed manner.

2021- smells gorgeous, obviously; the palate enters demure but quickly billows into the special shimmer and gleam of this magical vintage. The wine is actually transformed away from its typicity. A fine 21 but the 23 is even better for Grub. ONE PLUS.

Seeking to limit sprawl in my offerings, I looked for the “weak-link” among Hannes’ GVs and so we never offered Ried Grub .I don’t disavow that choice but it’s also a bit of a shame. That ’23 is really appealing. The ’21, like many ‘21s, is an example of a vintage so fine and with such expressiveness that some wines taste more of the vintage than of themselves. Hardly a terrible problem to have. It was enlightening to taste the forgotten site – forgotten by me, as I’ve always found it adipose and wanting in clarity. Not this time.

We had more library wines. It was wonderful and frustrating. Each wine deserved a half-hour to mull over, and one of them wanted an entire evening over which to dream in reverie and gratitude.

2018 Riesling Gaisberg – in a charming phase, with the lilac florals of this unheralded year. Angles and piquancies and wit in an otherwise extroverted mien.

2017 Riesling Gaisberg- a more searching fragrance, more mature; it’s a stunning Gaisberg, all the iridescent blueberry with the iris-y pepper of 17 yet not intruding on its basic foundation  It’s a Gaisberg familiar with dark times,  a superb and lovely drink. TWO PLUSSES.

2016 Riesling Gaisberg- is unsurprisingly superb in its classical ’16 way., sleek and brisk. I was thinking “What a perfect year for this site,” until….

2015 Riesling Gaisberg- far more exotic and overt and sexy; it’s like a better behaved version of the voodoo ’17; the best of the flight, in fact; all the beauty of Gaisberg – of Austrian Riesling – on lavish display, a sensual feast and one that tickles the divine. THREE PLUSSES.

Then I walked back out into the rain. It was a privilege to taste that wine, but part of me wished I hadn’t. It was too rare and too good to be glossed over. I knew what it asked for, or what I asked for, and the encounter had the force of a tease. Maybe I’ll obtain a bottle some day.

Now I am sitting by myself in the tasting room at Schloss Gobelsburg, because I was early, because my visit to Hirsch was curtailed, and it was too dreary and rainy to go for a walk. So they kindly gave me a place to sit quietly, and consider what would be a better word for “tasting room” because this looks more like a chamber where some crucial treaty was signed 400 years ago. It is beautifully and unnervingly quiet. All the time you spend wishing for a silent place to think your thoughts, and then at last you find one, and your thoughts are furtive. Someone should start up a lawn mower or something.

SCHLOSS GOBELSBURG

It was understood this wouldn’t a “tasting” as much as a few wines to survey while we talked. For such an ostensibly calm fellow, Michael Moosbrugger has an inclination toward the radical in his thinking.

We talked about Zweigelt, a variety where Michael (“Michi” to his friends) is avowedly ambitious. He thinks Zweigelt is a victim of low expectations, whereby it isn’t planted in the best sites because it is assumed it will (or should) only give pleasant ordinary wine. I countered that Zweigelt could give intensely delicious so-called “ordinary” wine, but I too was curious what its ceiling might be. Thus we began by tasting a few of them.

REDS:

The 21 (simple) Zweigelt has developed beautifully in a year. Adorable glugger.

21 Zweigelt Reserve is just a rapture! The most appealing and floral example I’ve ever had. Addictively tasty and also worth studying. TWO PLUSSES.  This isn’t because the wine affects any great “significance” in terms of the attributes to which “high scores” are usually awarded, but rather because of the power of its sheer deliciousness. Michi and I agreed it recalled the way Dolcetto used to be, before score-chasing and climate change perverted its destiny.

2015 Zweigelt Reserve is the ambitious one, like a well-behaved Malbec but with the deep “sweetness” of Barbera or even certain young Langhe Nebbiolo; it’s sheer deliciousness with a more swollen mid palate. ONE PLUS.

2021 St Laurent Reserve is as expected, which is to say wonderful; a bit of tannin lowers the fruit euphoria in a convincing way, yet it remains sleek and juicy and a teeny bit earthy, and look, it’s plain drinky. In its slim frame there’s all kinds of substance. God these are good.  ONE PLUS.

2021 Pinot Noir Reserve is precisely as expected, like the SL with its soul purified, juicy complex mid palate. In its evanescent way, this is quietly sublime. TWO PLUSSES

THE BASIC WINES IN 2024 are better than the 23s were at the same stage. The GV is just a bit “better” though the Ries is more interesting middle and end. Possibly due to botrytis? But as I’d learn later, whatever this thing was, it wasn’t botrytis.

VILLAGE WINES IN 2024 are both really salty, and again the GV is full-throttle “Grüner-y” while the Ries is more cautious up front and more swollen behind. The GV (Langenlois) is ONE PLUS.  Actually both are.  The GOBELSBURG village is plumper and more lentilly, with salt and physio sweetness. The whole series is impressive.

2023 SINGLE VINEYARDS STEINSETZ  is quite the peppery beast, turnipy too, and lots of nettle and cress, and only at the very end does it scratch. RENNER is All That. I mean, what terroir, what fruit, what tensile structure. If this also does its kitten bite thing at the end it’s SO striking that it -and anything – can be indulged. ONE PLUS FOR STEINSETZ AND TWO FOR RENNER.

GRUB is again impressive. Don’t even ask me why.

LAMM is brilliant, tactile, fascinating, with incredible length.  But GRUB is the real surprise, in its rye-doughy way. ONE PLUS FOR GRUB, TWO FOR LAMM.  Both of these are very salty, especially Lamm.

GAISBERG (Riesling) smells divine, as it often does. It is a silver chalice of Riesling and delivers a rare quietude.

HEILIGENSTEIN is grander, of course, and its sensory attributes are up front and tangible. It is superb wine. It isn’t, let’s say, religious. If sugar and silver could marry GAISBERG would birth the most glowing baby anyone had ever seen. TWO PLUSSES FOR HEILIGENSTEIN AND THREE FOR GAISBERG.

THE “TRADITIONS”:  I think I won’t even start to write. We know what I’ll say. So – they are finer than ever, especially the 3-year old. Both are profound and somehow also consoling.

HIEDLER

Always the Kamptal’s most interesting winery, I’ve always found myself simpatico in a way that can’t be quantified nor demonstrated by my judgments of individual wines. They just speak to me as a collective, and they arise from the spirit of a family in an unusually tangible way.

That spirit is moving forward. Ludwig (senior) is essentially retired, and it was sweet of him to emerge to welcome me, and sweet to observe how genially he regarded stylistic changes the new generation was enacting. It remains to be seen how these will ramify over time, and I’ll dive more deeply into this topic when I taste the wines at home later. For now….

2024 Löss GV is sweet-corn and ginger, juicy and hyssop. A little pinch on the finish.

24 “Tonmineral” GV (cask sample) is typical ’24, demure entry and big swollen middle.

23 (same) is slimmer and more vertical, but has lovely complexity and a savory salty finish. A fine 23. Skipping ahead to -

23 Kittmannsberg GV, it is quite karg and strict, salty and acid-juicy, needs to unfurl I think; jalapeño heat is an element, but one needs an hour with this.

23 Schenkenbichl GV is super stony and smoky, but not sexy smoky or campfire, more like scree; beautifully balanced, fascinating clarity, steady on its feet, crescendo into the finish. ONE PLUS.

2022 Maximum GV is the Viognier side of GV, acacia blossom, meyer lemon, juicy, botrytis an element but overtaken by fruit and butterscotch, until the finish. It’s very good but not quite great.

Rieslings:

24 Langenloiser Urgestein (cask), a bit troubled aromatically, less so in the mouth; as seems to be the case the good things are first obscure and then emerge with many ’24 Rieslings; a little quince, salty…wait on it.

Same in 23 – flowers and salts, really purple, crisp snappy finish more creamy than soft, though it does tighten w/o passing over to sharpness.  Hyssop also applies.

23 Steinhaus recalls the ’16, a little less rich but that carraway curve is enticing. ONE PLUS.

23 Gaisberg shows its stuff and only falters – if indeed it does – at the very end; till then it’s a crazed plum blossom gelée with mandarin and lavender. What a site. ONE PLUS.

23 Heiligenstein roars along. THIS is the masterwork among these 23s and an exemplar for the greatness of the site. This is also an example of a new form of vinification, the results of which are clearly positive but maybe not “Hiedler-y.” A long discussion ensued. TWO PLUSSES.

ALZINGER

A lovely midday with Leo, who has to be the most genial and decent guy I know, who also happens to make truly elite wines. And this group was especially impressive, even to someone who expects to be impressed.

2024 GV Dürnsteimer Federspiel.  This smells like Wachau! It really is uncanny and incomparable. The wine is spicy and ferrous with the depth and length that seems to be the nature of the vintage. Not at all slight., as this category is prone to be.

2024 GV Mühlpoint Fed again has this consistently weird strength of ’24;  without the ripe flavors of Smaragd there’s so much concentration and fülle. 12.6 alc. ONE PLUS

2024 GV Kreutles Smaragd (Alzinger’s lease on much of the Mühlpoint has expired so we have the neighboring site for a new Smaragd); seems loessy and in any case more ladylike than Mühlpoint typically was, but this is super elegant with a lovely wet cereal cling and flecks f pepper and urgestein gnarl in the background. Adorable, and ONE PLUS.

2024 GV Loibenberg Smaragd is subtle and blossomy, with a dispersed sweetness (like our crabapple tree in full bloom) yet also a firm grip and an aspect of ferrous sternness. Lots of polish and glide up to the adamant finish. TWO PLUSSES for sheer class.

2024 GV Steinertal Smaragd has the basmati/vanilla of (what seems like) 24; sweet-green more than savage herbs, the cut is leavened by cream this year, but the finish is like top-class Dragonwell all the way to the minty end-flavor. TWO PLUSSES. Even more than usual, this duo of top-crus are a consort of opposites, like a brother who looks like mom with a sister who looks like dad.

2024 Riesling  Dürnstein Federspiel is a kick-ass Riesling; tapioca and ginger and delicate fennel, juicy and concentrated; a semi-solid firmness with a delicate peachy top note. Contains what (little) was harvested from Höhereck. ONE PLUS.

2024 Riesling Hollerin Smaragd; now this is atypical, the least sweetly fruited wine yet, at least now; we watch and wait. In every other way it has the long staircase of depth of 24, and a fervent minerality at the end. ONE PLUS.

2024 Riesling Loibenberg Smaragd is highly exotic, almost geranium, but the palate is strict and scrupulous and solid and classy; again this is an apex of Loibenberg; structure in waves and a really intricate finish. The site really shone this time. TWO PLUSSES.

2024 Riesling Steinertal Smaragd has the not-botrytis aroma, and the palate is clinging and high-density – like a wine and a half in a single glass. One waits to see if the fermentation aroma disappears, because the 24-crescendo is compelling. AT LEAST ONE PLUS

2023 GV Loibenberg Smaragd -  a sudden breeze after the thick 24s. But this crisply rich and elegant wine is a spicy beast that finishes adamant but not sharp. Lots of focus for Loibenberg and not expressly GV. ONE PLUS.

2023 GV Steinertal Smaragd  is smoky and herbal, light-footed, finely delineated mineral finish; campfire and snap up to then. Brisk and intricate. ONE PLUS.

2023 Riesling Loibenberg Smaragd again a “botrytis” aroma but a lithe and skipping palate, more mineral than usual; shapely and contoured and refined along with its determined expressiveness. Exceptionally successful.  TWO PLUSSES

2023 Riesling  Steinertal Smaragd is xmas tree and woodruff and a remarkable pixilation of mineral, mid palate is insanely hi-def. TWO PLUSSES

OLD BOY – has a 90s smell but it’s gonna be fresher on the palate; RS is useful in what I think is Riesling – it is an utter classic, the 86 Loibenberg, again amazing and absurdly vital at 39 years old (!) as great a mature Riesling as I’ve ever had. It “greens out” with air, some greeny glade where you stop to eat the nectarine you carried with you. THREE PLUSSES. What a gift!

NIKOLAIHOF

The next 5-10 years will see a revolution in the wines of this icon among wineries. This is because of a huge new structure across the street that houses two presses and has more than ample space for tanks and barrels, thus liberating Nikki Saahs from the space and logistical limitations under which he struggled, resulting in wines that were made (and bottled) as they had to be instead of how he might have wished them to be. But do not suppose the wines will “modernize,” because they won’t. They will upgrade in cleanliness and competence even as they go on speaking in the particular dialect of this singular estate.

Nikki’s life-partner is one Katharina Salzgeber. She is a bundle of energy. Visitors with only recent impressions of Nikolaihof might suppose she is leading the charge, but I see it differently. She is urging the charge along, in tandem with Nikki’s sea-deep rootedness. The prospect of Nikolaihof wines losing none of their unique nature while becoming ever more scrupulously correct is honestly thrilling.

Though I didn’t write a note for it, credit must be given to the highly successful SEKT, all from 2020 (but not a “vintage” wine) and in another league entirely from its forbears.

Finally, the estate has the largest and deepest availability of mature wines I have seen since many years ago when Lopez de Heridia was clearing out their cellar. This is less about having access to “cool old vintages” than it is a chance to see time itself through a different lens.

The tasting had its ups and downs but the overall level was improved over recent years. I can’t wait to taste them at home, to give them the time they need, and to climb into the atmosphere they exhale.

2023 GV Zwickl This is the unfiltered wine, and other than the novelty value I have wondered why it was needed. This vintage was bothersome; nutty, sherry-like, aldehydic; the palate is better but not much better; it’s naphthalene, fennel, phenolic, sort of mineral; it’s the “natty” side of the winery I don’t like and they don’t need.

2023 GV Hefeabzug (12.5%) This on the other hand is as good as usual, maybe a bit more bricky, powdered cassis, briny like Maine oysters, lovey salty finish with a peppery olive oil touch.

2023 GV Aus den Gärten Federspiel as reliable as usual, just a touch of nut and natty but also like a sort of syrup of Savignin; does have the sharp finale of ’23 but also a bright fennel-energy.

2019 GV Ried im Weingebirge Smaragd (12.5%, the brute) this smells like a great Nikolaihof wine, and tastes like one too, albeit one “notices” the alcohol but also the truly grainy/nutty “sweetness” and this beaming calm energy, the glow of tertiary doughy joy. ONE PLUS.

2012 GV Steinterassen;  here’s the difference between “mature” and “old.” This is simply a well-adjusted adult, tasting more of tertiary umami than grape variety; in the previously prevailing style, this is a strong reason to love them particularly, that hale, grounded wrap-around thing that isn’t exactly “flavor” but rather an atmosphere you’re invited to inhale. ONE PLUS.

2013 GV Aus den Gärten Federspiel has a positive oxidation, though you may disagree and it boils down to tolerance and preference. The palate is much fresher, beautifully so, with a skipping lyric florality like white lilacs. I adore it. It’s wine in the form of a good book – or the opposite. THREE PLUSSES. Tranquil and divine.

2023 Riesling Aus den Gärten Federspiel again aldehydic, like doubtful lees, weird pipe-tobacco, a little fuzzy/moldy; plenty of people will relish exactly this element I find disagreeable, especially when it veils what is otherwise a charming perfumey wine.

2016 Riesling Federspiel is delicious, intricate, positively developed, very deliberate and long for its lightness. Firne is the word that applies and is alas untranslatable. A fine fresh morning, yet also a lovely lingering twilight. What an experience. TWO PLUSSES

2019 Riesling Ried Vom Stein Smaragd is even better than the GV, as the piquant ripple of Riesling suits the roasted corn flavor of the vintage. I liked the GV and this is even better suited to the nature of ’19. TWO PLUSSES

2017 Riesling Steiner Hund herbal and complex aromas; Hund is like edible leaves that grow within the rock rather than above it. And this is the best vintage in years. It’s supple for all its crazy extraterrestrial minerality; the finish is beautiful (if evanescent); it’s a delicate wine but all the things we revere about the site are clear and candid and completely without force or power. TWO PLUSSES

2016 Riesling Klause a fine vintage of this, and a way to render Riesling as allusively as possible and still be identifiable; high flowers and warm dough, roasted corn, wet cereal, wintergreen; an excellent Riesling not quite as lofty as its price and not quite as improbable as the ’19 Smaragd, but 16 keeps having a lot to say about contour, positive lightness and clarity, and how we register florality without lapsing into sentimentality. ONE PLUS

2015 Riesling Baumpresse is a riot of wintergreen, sorrel and balsam; lots of “white” energy, freesia, meringue, coconut cream and white peach. The wine has buoyancy and salt and vividness and sweet citruses. Sensually it’s giddy and delightful rapture of flavor. TWO PLUSSES

2008 Riesling Vinothek vinosity and time and the mystery of how a tensile wine responds to fifteen years in cask. We are smoky and, honestly not entirely agreeably leesy. The externals are good; the inside flavors are confused. (Or I am.) Something tells me decanting would clear up the strife, at least in part.

2021 Gelber Muskateller is every variety of basil liquefied and strained through granite. ONE PLUS. There’s also an entirely useful and effective Neuburger ’23 that does the nutty job is was born to do. A 2022 Chardonnay is painless. The Muscat seems almost vulgar next to the two neutral wines  

NIGL

Always something of a moving target and always providing the unexpected – especially this year, as you will see.

2024 GV Gärtling winsome and adorable as always. Perfect light happy wine.

2024 GV Freiheit is again above its weight, as was the 23; loessy, decent length, fulfills its yummy function.

2024 GV Piri is classic iris and mineral, but this has real intricacy and a finely calibrated balance. Reminds me of the Nigl of the 90s. An apex of stylish delicacy and complexity. ONE PLUS.

2024 GV Alte Reben (cask) indirectly salty, quite dense, allusive; still locating itself, but no worrying elements (except possibly alcohol?)

2024 GV Zwettl (cask) is like Piri amplified and augmented with the carraway taste from this soil; has the eucalyptus finish, and I hope the alc isn’t as prominent as it seems. Finishes long, as most 24s do.

2024 GV Pellingen (also cask) seems marvelous, exotic, juicy/creamy, open-armed, horizontal/spherical, allusive perfume on the finish. With air – ONE PLUS

2024 GV  Kirchenberg (cask) is the least evolved but also the most compelling; tobacco and wild herbs, has force, maybe too much, but when/if it locates its middle we may have us a wine. Evolves in the glass.

The estate has operated a Kamptal estate called Leindl for several years now. Until this year I wasn’t terribly impressed. That changed!

LEINDL 2024 GV Eichelberg (mica-schist) is all-in, lovely as 24s are lovely, densely rich and creamy, legume and mineral; honestly the best GV yet from here. ONE PLUS

2024 GV Seeberg is all conifer, sorrel and cilantro. Why are these so much better? They’re all made here at the “main” winery. The floating green of the entry and middle are anchored by a lovely grip of lime, yuzu and matja. ONE PLUS

2024 Riesling Kogelberg has the 24-riesling scent and the palate is over-baked.

2024 Riesling Heiligenstein is a salty and moderate version of this supernal cru, showing its excellence even in a wine that isn’t remarkable. ONE PLUS

2024 Viognier happens to be super, urgestein (Seeberg)…so, basically what???“They had a French cellarmaster at one time, and he planted a few rows of Viognier, which we decided to continue because we were surprised how good it was.” As was I.   ONE PLUS

We return to Nigl-proper:

2024 Riesling Urgestein is really exotic! And really dense and really serious and really good. Melons and margaritas and the sweetest spring sorrel. A serious WOW. ONE PLUS

2024 Riesling Piri is more typical for 24; a curious entry, then a crescendo, then a stern mineral finish. Martin says the “botrytis” aroma is actually derived from overripeness. A slight sopaciousness gives me pause.

2024 Riesling Goldberg is perfect and stunning and entirely typically itself; the whisper of RS does it proud, and I don’t recall a greater vintage for this wine. Tarragon and carraway and the finest key-lime. TWO PLUSSES

2024 Riesling  Hochäcker on the other hand is troubled with the “overripe/not-botrytis” thing. It’s my usual favorite, but thuis year I wonder if Goldberg is ascendant.

2024 Gelber Muskateller a perfect Muscat; every luscious element plus density and length. TWO PLUSSES.

2024 Sauvignon Blanc is on one hand discreet and on the other swollen with vinosity, has the red-pepper but encased in a jacket of sats and mineral. This too is what 24 can accomplish. LEINDL Viognier happens to be super, urgestein (Seeberg)…so, basically what???  ONE PLUS

BRUNDLMAYER

Willi met me on a Sunday afternoon, which was awfully sweet of him. We’ve known each other for thirty-plus years, after all. So it was just him and me in the little tasting room, scanning over a few wines in a way that was more than desultory but less than diligent.

The long and short of it with Bründlmayer is their increasing excellence with red wines and their ongoing climb into the uppermost levels with their SEKTS. We must also account for the occasional wobble with the “mainstream” wines, such as the controversial 2021 Ried Lamm GV, but I think such rogue variants are deliberate as a way to keep things unpredictable.

Bründlmayer also operates a well-regarded Heurige, and amateurs of bivalves should know that they offer big fat Gillardeaux oysters which, if you don’t know them, are like Fanny Bays on steroids. I would have eatewn more than six except I weas saving room for the excellent fried chicken.

2020 Zweigelt Reserve a literal bouquet of violets and every other purple flower, especially grape hyacinth; the palate is gurglingly drinky, focused and consistent all the way to the finish. Perfect in its perfect way.. glug-glug-glug and ONE PLUS.

2021 Zweigelt is sleek and whippy and taut. Cool-tempered.

2022 St Laurent is clean and polite but also long and civilly earthy and bloody, great focus for this sometimes muddy variety. Classy and lovey. ONE PLUS   

2021 Pinot Noir has a pretty and unusual fragrance; smoky, artichoke, haricots verts, and this green-sweetness persists in a silky body with lissome contours.

2021 Pinot Noir Reserve is ravishing! This keen, sleek fruit! The tannins are discreetly dusty, the wine doesn’t have what we call “depth” and certainly not “intensity” but it has a rippling energy, rapturous fruit, freshness and wit.

2019 Pinot Noir Reserve is warmer and woodier (though not woody), like a really good veal stock, an evanescent length; it’s why PN is referred to as “ethereal.”

2023 GV Berg Vogelsang is a little metallic at first (screwcap redux) and then the typical hay and talc; lovely “sweet” mid palate with none of the 23 “issue.” Thoroughly good, winning wine.

2023 GV Loiserberg has more ‘tude. In fact it shows the rondeur of the higher levels, as though from a stylistic change. It’s good, of course, but not remarkable. The protocols of the Erste Lage created the shift, it seems.  I realize this shorthand is obscure. Loiserberg GV was always zippy, mineral and Riesling-like. This one is richer and rounder, in line with the top Crus “above” it in the range. I think it loses more than it gains, but the DAC categorization made it necessary.

2023 GV Alte Reben (Langenloiser) is serious business, appealing, fine dialogue of elements, superb fruit and structure esp. a markedly rich middle for ’23; finish is pleasingly dusty and smoky. ONE PLUS.

2023 GV Lamm has a touch of the natty that quickly disappears, becoming a Platonic essence, a paradigm of Lamm. THREE PLUSSES.

2023 GV Käferberg  is another fine success, creamy langoustine stock with the right salt level. ONE PLUS

2024 Terassen Riesling matchsticky SO2 but behind it is a classic 24, clinging kiwi fruit concentrate, even lychee; like a lot of these it’s a serious upgrade from the norm, both in depth, firmness of structure, quality of fruit and finally that fluid cling that’s so appealing. ONE PLUS  2023 Heiligenstein Riesling is a curious critter, finding its best self, one may say, in some ways too much, in others not enough. Salty finish, but wait a while for this one.

Insightful readers will infer these “notes” are unusually sketchy because the ambient conversation was more absorbing, for which I am grateful.

 HEIDI AND THE GUYS

After rocking my world with their ‘21s, this collection is at least as good and maybe even better.

2023 Zweigelt “Wild At Heart”  speaks with a St Laurent accent, mid palate is earthy and porcini-dust; it could be 1er Cru Pernand in fact, and whatever it is it’s way-y-y-y tasty, like a veal demi-glace with just a little flowery edge. ONE PLUS.

2023 Junge Löwen mostly BF and a little SL, and this is both charming and substantive, like one of the lighter Cru Beaujolais. Savory and addictive. Glug-glug-glug

2023 Blaufränkisch Kulm this really is the adamant mineral side of BF; not even so much pepper and blackberry, though each is present, but an almost tactile rock-dust and graphite. I adore exactly this kind of wine, and will in the future when its fruit comes further forward. ONE PLUS

2024 More Is More (Liter) Pinot Blanc and Welschriesling, and this is much too good to be in a Liter – but that’s 24 – this is a fine mouthful of wine, with a crisp finish that’s racier than the palate. Too dense to glug, it’s a wacked out value.

2024 Muskateller this is astonishing; has the quince and chamomile texture – and the minerality – of Furmint, but the riotous fruit and fragrance of Muscat, plus sweet corn and yuzu; it’s the near-solid density that amazes, and the tactile minerality. Wow. TWO PLUSSES

2024 Weissburgunder a nearly buxom vintage of this usually oyster shelly wine; it’s like a corn fritter with a beurre blanc; I mean, what do you make of it? I’d say you try to replicate it because the solid fleshiness does a world of good.

2024 Furmint another amazing ’24, and one of their best Furmints in years. At this point it’s mostly lychee, jasmine, osmanthus – but Furmint is a moving target inherently. Wherever this moves, it’s still gonna be amazing. So dense and concentrated you couldn’t paddle through it no matter how hard you tried. TWO PLUSSES

2024 Welschriesling Kraxner 24 even elevates this, though not quite to a compelling point. It’s the first wine that seems structurally confused, but I’m not “at peace” with the variety.

2024 Rosé really strong, tomato water in this one but also a concentrate of rose hip and tomato leaf, but it’s also kind of insane in the context of “Rosé” or whatever that should be; sizzling dialog of salts and (tiny) RS; a nearly tannic finish. ONE PLUS

SWEETS: I really must emphasize that my diffidence towards these wines has nothing to do with them and everything to do with my recent (and unanticipated) antipathy to sweet wine in general. The ones I still like need a lot of zip and zing. So…. 24 Spätlese (WR, SauvBl, PinotBl) this is as far as I go, but I’m glad to have gone this far. ’24 elevates all that it touches. 24 Furmint Aus is in the realm of the exotic,  mango crème brulée. Very sweet but quite good. 23 Beerenauslese Welschriesling, smells good but has the “ooogy” thing botrytis wines can do, for them as like such things. 2023 Ruster Ausbruch Furmint is as close as I come to drinking very sweet wine for enjoyment. Thank you Furmint! 24 Ausbruch is a little dubious but it’s a cask-sample.

PRIELER

(This should be good…..)

2024 Kalkterassen Gemischter Satz (14%!). Dense and almost powerful; the alc is a factor but not dominant, yet the wine as a whole is too assertive for its type, which should be refreshing. This tastes fresh enough, but after a glass you’ll feel it. I’d rather not feel it. From a different glass it has much more fruit, which buffers the alcohol. The dreaded Zalto strikes again. Why does anybody still use that glass??? Forget what I wrote above; this is entirely viable from the proper glass. The alc is still a somatic element but on the palate the wine is decidedly pleasant.

Honestly I have never known a glass to do more harm to more wines than that one. I was delighted to see it disappearing from restaurants, which I hope is a precursor to its disappearing altogether.

Georg, recalling earlier skirmishes between myself and the universal, had a little case of 6 stems he’d written “Terry” on. He forgot for a moment he’d done it. He must have been dazzled to lay eyes on me.

I have a rare emotion, or emotions about this estate. One is an affectionate familiarity I think we feel toward one another, and the other is the sense that I’m encountering profoundly fine wines.

Meanwhile…

2024 Chardonnay Sinner  less Burgundian than the Pinot Blancs, albeit…Maconnais – in a positive way. Nice and salty, juicy and balanced. The shadow of the PBs looms over it, but this is nothing to sneeze at.

2024 Pinot Blanc Schützen Ried Seeberg (14% again) a classic Seeberg in terms of fruit but atypical in terms of strength. Minerality and leesiness resuce it, and most drinkers will be happy, especially if they’re habituated to this level of intensity.

2023 Pinot Blanc Alte Reben “Leithaberg DAC” when ’23 smells good it smells exactly this way; flowers and fruits you cannot always name but which are plentiful and waving in a cool wind. This is lissome, lithe and yet spicy; the lees balance is perfect; it has the pointedness of 23 in the finish, but you’re walking among a hay field on a sunny morning and everything seems wonderful.

2023 Pinot Blanc Ried Haidsatz more up front casky-ness and a less creamy middle; like pallet planks and limestone, and it waves itself open on the palate and shows more and more golden vetiver and oleander “sweetness” grounded by limestony mineral. Quite to my surprise, ONE PLUS. I’d want this for the cellar, for the specific purpose it would serve, deliciously.

2023 Pinot Blanc Ried Steinweingarten  A Puligny fragrance; wood, lees, malt, apricot – you would swear it was white Burgundy, in a good way! Toasty but not “toasty oak” leesy but not a basmati exaggeration; honestly this is as good as this sort of wine can be; it just comes onto the palate and adores you.  TWO PLUSSES

2024 Rosé vom Stein no surprise; a perfect vintage of this. In lie with its typical (and fabulous) character with even more shimmer and density; just 4 weeks in bottle, so the fruit will emerge. Now it’s like liquefied voatisperfery peppercorns. ONE PLUS

2022 St Laurent some iron from the larger glass (two tulips from Riedel), and a finely bloody SL; morels (and morel powder) with oxtail-stew savor. The perfect symbiosis of blood and iron and sweet animal goo. The larger glass offers more spices (clove, nutmeg, a touch of cinnamon) at the cost of some clarity of structure. Both are wholly lovely and admirable SL, for which Georg has a rare talent.

2022 Blaufränkisch Oggau (Johanneshöhe) cask, racked 2 weeks ago; smells great, is somewhat tannic (but I tasted whites first), but what we have is toasted whole-wheat sourdough; delicate pepper and some sweet fruit emerges. Wait for bottling and serve cooler, and we may have us a winner.

2021 Blaufränkisch Oggau (ibid.) I do like 21! A fantastic wine! A 2-class upgrade. Everything there is to adore about BF. It has the focus and intricacy of a white wine. Tasting note needs 300 words. Now though, two must suffice. TWO PLUSSES

2022 Blaufränkisch Ried Pratschweingarten (Leithaberg DAC) we have a large increase in fruit-sweetness, and yet it retains the dispersed mineral of BF; potentially a highly seductive BF for anyone who thinks it’s too….too what? Too particular?  ONE PLUS (with two to follow?)

2022 Blaufränkisch Ried Marienthal in the best sense, a chocolate syrup of BF – until the palate, which is in no sense syrupy. The earth and iron side of BF in a massively voluptuous texture yet with a skeleton of iron. Capacious, powerful, “understandable.” If after this anyone remains unconvinced, they’re beyond help. TWO PLUSSES

2022 Blaufränkisch Ried Goldberg astonishing aromas; a Hermitage of BF. I have a great wine in my glass. THREE PLUSSES. Some day worshipers will arrive and take pictures of Goldberg just as, now, they photograph the Hermitage hill. One is humbled, if one is “one.”

GLATZER

I love this winery, as you know by now. They are wines that deliver joy and contentment, and while they have had greater affect and ambition over the past few years, they have not squandered their essential good humor.

One thing that has happened, and something I’d have never predicted, is that Blaufränkisch has caught up – maybe even overtaken – Zweigelt as the primo red in the cellar.

Something else I would never have predicted – never even conceived, come to think of it – is the deliciousness of white asparagus Cordon Bleu. You need big fat stems, and then you wrap them in thin-sliced ham and cheese and then you fry those suckas. The picture barely does justice to them.

2022 Zweigelt (Carnuntum DAC) again a perfection of its type, albeit not as lavishly fruity as before; a little tannic, dusty, not a charmeur – “we make them a little more serious than before.”

2022 Blaufränkisch (Carnuntum DAC)  this is much more characterful, and superbly juicy yet salty yet berried yet focused yet mineral yet and yet and yet. It is absolutely and perfectly itself and unimaginable there’s an occasion you wouldn’t crave it – if at first you know it.  ONE PLUS

2022-2020-2021 Blaufränkisch Göttlesbrunn  the 22 is lovey, dark chocolatey, mid and end palate pepper (Tasmanian); swirl of juicy vinosity; seductive but clarity is somewhat obscured. 21 after a redux, and allowing for its unusual tannin, has loads of graphite and garrigue but is one of the 21s I’m not jiggy over. 20 has a sexy fragrance and a big juicy body; stern and ferrous, best of the three as it combines the best elements of the other two. ONE PLUS

2022 St Laurent (12.5%) clean aroma, clean palate; in its “light” form, about as good as can be obtained at this level; though its moderate civility might make you think it is merely “correct.” Its more than that. It’s oddly claret-like, like a right bank Merlot from the Gironde.

2022 St Laurent Alte Reben (13%) Has the form of these wines at their best, the best combination of roundness of fruit, carefully rendered chocolate, highly specific structure, addictive fruit, and good firm limbs. ONE PLUS for a happy wine.

2022 Zweigelt Rubin the 22s are mega-juicy and everything is chocolatey; this is entirely lovely and only obliquely refers to Zweigelt, so if it’s the particular fruit of Zweigelt you want, look at something else. If it’s a mid-weight tasty red you’ll accept, this is more than acceptable, it’s delicious.

2022 Zweigelt Dornenvogel surprisingly fruity! This is a triumph for a wine that can collapse beneath its own seriousness. Bouyantly tasty and wonderfully directly fruit driven. ONE PLUS

2021 Zweigelt Ried Haidacker compelling aromas; red beets, deep cherry, beet greens; has the 21 tannin but also has markedly mineral density; it’s a “quite-serous” wine that’s more impressive than drinkable, and is maybe better in softer years when its angles and terroir bite would be welcome. I had a very different impression 14 months ago tasting it at home. Probably trust that one.

2020 Blaufränkisch Bernreiser Höflein”  fantastic aroma! Tastes as good as it smells. “Leaves no desire unfulfilled.” Each element of BF is in perfect balance, especially salt and graphite. And wood. Probably the best red Walter has made till now, and an amazing drink. TWO PLUSSES

2024 GV (12%alc) the 24 whites are just so good. This isn’t riper tasting but it’s thicker-feeling – though bottle-sick its aroma has returned, and its palate is forthright, varietally typical. A bit too good to glug, but an exemplar for the “upgrade” of 24.

2023 GV Dornenvogel remarkable fragrance, the point where GV releases its particularity and romps about the world. It’s simply an excellent dry white wine “of the world” (if the world pauses at Chablis), though with air it refers more to its actual identity. The finish of this stainless steel wine is only a little pointed. ONE PLUS.

2023 Weissburgunder “DAC” lovely aroma! A really pretty wine, a little zippy in the 23 manner, but has animation and zip.

2022 Weissburgunder Göttlesbrunn is corn and lime and oxidation; a 22 that’s traveled a long way, but the exotics are also appealing, and it freshens in the glass. The mid palate vinosity helps, and the wine actually surmounts whatever decay seemed evident and becomes a lovely PB.

2024 Sauvignon Blanc  is again one of those amazing 24s; in the zone where it could be Muscat or Scheu – he says “nettle and elderflower” which is fair enough, but the red-pepper character couldn’t be finer. ONE PLUS

2023 Sauvignon Blanc “Weisser Schotter” (was Schüttenberg) is finely elegant and restrained; juicy and salty, honestly classy, hay and quince; for sheer verve, ONE PLUS.

(A “Kabinett” Riesling is interesting but too sweet – by a lot – and a mash-contact Traminer isn’t appalling but too natty for me.)

….And – we are done!