Austria

This was a clear step up from the wonderful 2020.  Green/gold in color, clear and bright.  The nose is great with slight peach, limes and minerals.  Oily texture.  Light tannins.  On the palate, flavors of limes, white pepper and slight peach.  Great acidity.  Long finish with slight bitter note (in a good way) on the finish.  This is drinking very well now and should continue to for the next six to nine years.  It would be great with a green olive and onion pizza.  

At a recent tasting at the winery of many amazing wines, this was my favorite.  A stunning Riesling.  The soils of the vineyard are volcanic.  Green gold in color, clear and bright.  The nose is great with notes of apricot and crème brûlée. Great acidity.  Wonderful balance.  On the palate, this is concentrated, lively and delicious.  Flavors of peach, apricots, slight coffee and minerality.  Long finish.  This is great on its own and will work with almost any food.  Grilled trout would be great!  Drink over the next twelve to fifteen years.  

Tasted at the winery.  Grown on steep terraced vineyards.  Golden in color, clear and bright.  The nose has bold peach notes and nice minerality.  Medium bodied.  On the palate, peaches and minerals.  Good acidity.  Long finish.  Delicious.  This needs a few more years to develop but is already drinking well.  Drink over the next twelve to fifteen years.  This is great on its own and will work with a wide variety of foods.  This would work well with stuffed pork chops.  

Tasted at the winery.  The wine is made from 3 south-facing steep slope vineyards in Seftenberg with mica schist soils.

Tasted at the winery.  The Kirchenberg vineyard is sheltered, south-east facing and situated below the historic church of Senftenberg.

Tasted at the winery.  The 1ÖTW indicates a Premier Cru vineyard.  Yellow gold in color, clear and bright.  The nose is nice with limes and some minerality.  Medium tannins.  On the palate, this is ripe and bigger in nature than many from this vintage.  Limes and lemons with some minerality.  Long finish.  One of the best 2020 Gruner's tasted!  This drinks well on its own and would be a nice match with shell fish.  Drink over the next five to eight years.  

Alte Reben translates to Old Vines.  Tasted at the winery.  Yellow/gold in color, clear and bright.  The nose is nice with limes and minerality.  Slightly oily texture which is nice.  On the palate, this is complex and deep and quite concentrated.  Flavors of limes with underlying minerality.  Good acidity.  Long finish.  This is great on its own and will be better with food.  This would be great with Vietnamese Pho.  Drink over the next eight to twelve years.  

Tasted at the winery.  Green/gold in color, clear and bright.  The nose is interesting with green apples and light smoky notes.  Nice viscous texture.  Light but persistent tannins.  Medium bodied.  On the palate, green apples and white pepper.  Someone mentioned Mirabelle plums but I am not sure what those are.  This is drinking quite well now and should continue for another eight to twelve more.  Great on its own, this will work quite well with pasta primavera.  

Tasted at the winery.  Green/gold in color, clear and bright.  The nose has a really nice minerality with a bit of white pepper and slight lime.  Soft texture but still crisp.  On the palate, minerals with slight asparagus notes.  Lemons on the finish.  Good acidity.  This drinks easy and nicely right now and should probably be consumed in the next three to five years.  It will work well with fried foods.  

Tasted at the winery where it was referred to as Sekt (although not on the label).  It is made from 100% Zweigelt.  Salmon/orange in color, clear and bright.  A steady stream of medium bubbles.  The nose is nice with orange rind notes and some minerality.  It seems basically dry.  On the palate, nice cherry notes.  Good acidity.  It turns slightly bitter with cough drop notes on the finish.  Very refreshing.  Drinks nicely on its own but would be better with food.  Of course, Schnitzel would be a great match.  Drink over the next couple of years.