lerne durch trinken
I took my first WSET class through the Capital Wine School the other week.
It was… well it was… fun? It was fun…
I’m being snarky, it wasn’t all that bad. From my vantage point, the class had two things going against it.
As it was, COVID and all, we had to do the class remotely via zoom, and I imagine it is a much more immersive experience when you’re able to do it in person.
Google “Zoom Fatigue,” I have it.
Second, the class is meant to be a primer into the world of wine, they don’t want to kick you in the teeth just yet, so they cover things at a very high level. For me, it was a bit too high level. I had my gloves on, mouthguard in, and was ready for that first punch.
We started at 9:00 a.m. sharp on Saturday and went till about noon. The class had some bright spots to it don’t get me wrong. Towards the end of the lecture, we got to sample about 8 wines (you picked them up a day before) and go through a little tasting exercise.
please ignore the poor lighting
Plus, I appreciated walking away with a few new catchphrases. My favorite thus far, “Wine is nothing but a collection of exceptions,” which I thought was just spot on.
For every time I talk about why and how oak is used in fermenting or aging Chardonnay, there’s an exception to where stainless steel might be used instead. Or if I tell you America doesn’t grow good Petite Syrah, you might hand me a bottle of exceptional wine that was grown in the Wilcox AVA of Arizona (Yes, they can make wine in Arizona).
And that’s what makes all of this so addicting! You never stop learning with wine, there’s always something new, or an exception to what may have previously been a boring variety, and you’re always chasing something, trying a new region, becoming a better taster, etc.
Which brings us to our next wine. This month we will be covering the 2011 Weingut Tegernseerhof Grüner Veltliner, Höhereck, Smaragd… stay with me here, from Austria.
Willkommen in Österreich
Bro. What?
Ok, let me break it down for you, because this is a really cool wine.
If you haven’t googled it already, the title of this month’s blog is “lerne durch trinken” which roughly translates to learn by drinking - shouts to Madeline Puckette. It really is the best way to understand and appreciate wine.
Also, I’m told, that German is the dominant language spoke in Austria (Österreich), so I wanted to try and connect the dots.
Grüner Veltliner, is a grape that is grown almost entirely in Austria. Where Burgundy is the mecca of Pinot Noir, and Italy is the place for Sangiovese (Brunello, Chianti, etc.), Grüner finds its home in Austria.
The producer for this wine is Weingut Tegernseerhof. Weingut, translating to “winery” in German.
Tegernseerhof the winery, on the other hand, is our cool thing this month.
One Cool Thing
According to their site, the Holy Roman Emperor Henry II granted the Benedictine monastery of Tegernsee two oxgangs of land… yea, cause that’s a unit of measurement… in Wachau, Austria. In 1176, Tegernseerhof was built and named after its owner.
Wachau, as it turns out, is a really interesting spot for wine in Austria. First and foremost, it is absolutely stunning. I mean just look at where this wine is grown. Second, they have a specific classification system for the wines in their region:
Steinfeder. This is for wines up to 11.5% ABV, and should be the lightest wines
Federspiel. For wines between 11.5–12.5% - with slightly more ripe fruit, but again, bone dry
Smaragd. Only the ripest grapes go in these wines, which must contain at least 12.5% ABV. The maximum residual sugar level for these wines is 9 g/l (grams per liter).
Notably in all of these classifications, the wines cannot have residual sugar from the fruit that is harvested (past a certain, very low threshold), nor can sugar be added to the wines in production. This makes their wines laser-sharp, precise, bright, and focused.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Wachau is a region well known and respected for making some amazing wines, and it’s a small wine region that accounts for only around 3% of Austria's wine production.
The “Höhereck” is literally a ‘higher ground’ or corner vineyard, just half a hectare (about 1.2 acres) in size, and lies on a beautiful South Eastern slope right in the heart of the rocky ‘Hochland’ (high land). According to the winery, it was laid out by hand sixty years ago using their own selections of Grüner Veltliner grapes.
The winemaker has a really interesting back story as well.
“Martin Mittelbach is a Wachau insider with an outsider’s perspective. He is the fifth generation of Mittelbachs to run the historical Tegernseerhof. Despite the estate’s historical merit you couldn’t find a much more progressive winemaker with his own set of standards and way of thinking in this region. Martin took over the estate at a very young age and immediately changed the way things were done. As you could imagine, there was some friction with his father who preferred to make wines more on the sweeter side. Today, you would be hard pressed to find a more dry and straight style in the Wachau. The grapes are harvested and sorted rigorously to take out any botrytis grapes and then vinified and raised in stainless steel. They are harvested with no botrytis to keep the wines focused and tense.” - via The Source
I know… This is a lot to unpack, and I promise there’s a point to it.
If I just told you all of this, without having you taste it, you’d look like Dan Levy here. Kind of lost, probably disinterested, and wondering when I’ll stop talking. That said, knowing cool details like this will make a huge difference when you drink the wine:
2011 = The vintage
Weingut Tegernseerhof = The Tegernseerhof Winery
Grüner Veltliner = The grape variety
Höhereck = The spot on their land where the grapes come from
Smaragd = The specific classification of Grüner Veltliner from Wachau
With this in mind, you’re able to appreciate where it came from, who it came from, the history of the area, and why certain words bring certain characteristics to what you’re seeing in the glass. At best, you’ll be able to picture yourself walking along those steep vines, looking at the green little clusters of Grüner, and imagine having a glass with some traditional Austrian food at a cafe in Wachau and understand what this whole wine thing is about.
Speaking of which.
what does it taste like?
As you might expect, having read (or at least skimmed this last section), Grüner Veltliner is a high acid wine. These wines will bring the punch. So be ready, serve chilled, and have food to go along with it.
This being a 2011 vintage, in essence, a 10+ year old wine, it was really cool to see how the acidity held up over a decade. One of the things that can help a wine age well is acidity (both from the grape’s structure and the vintage), and this wine could go for another 10+ years, easily. As it was, the wine “drank young,” and really was just lovely all around.
With this being the Smaragd offering, it was at 14% ABV, so we had some ripe fruits that still showed up to the party 10 years later. For me, beautiful candied apple, with secondary flavors of wet stone and some white pepper. It wasn’t overly flinty, one of the key markers of Grüner, but a great showing of what old white wine can do.
Unlike the first few wines, this one you’re going to have to search for. There only appear to be a handful of distributors in the US - though, you seem to be able to get the latest release from our friends over at The Source. If you are in the Northern, VA area, a lot of your wine shops will have wine from Tegernseerhof, so check out the Wine Attic, Oakton Wine Shop, and even Wegmans.
Happy Hunting!
-Dustin