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Neumayer, Grüner Veltliner “Ludwig”

Lower Austria, Austria 2017 (750mL)
Regular price$27.00
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Neumayer, Grüner Veltliner “Ludwig”

To refer to a German or Austrian wine as “precise” is, admittedly, some rather tired cultural stereotyping—but, on the other hand, we can’t think of a better word to describe today’s 2016 Grüner Veltliner from Ludwig Neumayer. It’s a wine that cuts an electrifying swath across the palate, enlivening your senses with its combination of mouth-watering minerality and crystal clear fruit.


At this price point, there’s lots of crisp, clean, serviceable Austrian Grüner out there, but Neumayer’s “Ludwig” is hardly the ‘entry-level’ wine it purports to be—it is on another level altogether. It is also, for Austrian wine aficionados, a window to a relatively unfamiliar Grüner growing zone, the Traisental DAC, which lay south of the Kamptal/Kremstal/Wachau ‘big three’ along the Danube. Instead of primary rock and the wind-blown silt known as loess, the Traisental is a more calcareous—i.e. limestone-rich—terroir, and it shows in Neumayer’s wines. Grüner and limestone were clearly made for each other, and today’s 2016 is the kind of crystalline, finely etched expression of the grape that is often being overlooked these days in favor of richer, rounder styles. This is exactly what I want to drink after work, or to start off a dinner party in lieu of Champagne. You’ll want to have a chilled bottle in the fridge at all times, especially when you see the price!


Situated along a narrow Danube tributary and comprised of about 800 hectares of vineyards in total, the Traisental region was only officially ‘codified’ as a DAC (controlled appellation) in 2006. Ludwig Neumayer first established his winery in the region in 1985, and now farms about nine hectares in and around the small village of Inzersdorf, where the soils are a limestone-infused “conglomerate” of gravel, clay, and sand. Neumayer describes himself as a white wine specialist, and his entire lineup—not just Grüner and Riesling but a number of other varieties as well, including Chardonnay—is characterized by great varietal typicity. In the case of this steel fermented-and-aged Grüner Veltliner, it’s a wine anyone would be thrilled to be presented with in a blind tasting exam; it is a resolutely classic expression, aromatically and texturally.



In the glass, the 2016 “Ludwig” is a pale straw-gold with hints of green at the rim, with exceedingly bright and expressive aromas of green and yellow apple, white grapefruit, white peach, lime blossom, cucumber peel, daikon radish, white pepper, and wet stones. The wine is a joyful push-pull of fruit and mineral sensations, with surprising depth and palate persistence and perfect tension. It is ready to drink now at 50 degrees in all-purpose white wine stems, but will absolutely improve over the next 3-5 years in your cellar. Its aging potential is clear to see from the first sip, and at this price it’s a wine to consider acquiring by the case and re-visiting periodically over the next few years. There are myriad food options here, including your entire Thai or Vietnamese library; check out the attached recipe’s flavors and preparation technique, which to me feels like a winning combination all around. Cheers!
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Austria

Northeastern Austria

Weinviertel

Considered by most to be the oldest growing zone in Austria, Weinviertel is also, geographically, the largest in the country and covers the vast, northeastern expanse of Lower Austria, stretching from the western border of Slovakia, following the Danube inland and veering up to the southern border of Czechia. Its name, which translates to “wine quarter,” reflects the region’s rich, ancient wine heritage and, according to the Weinviertel DAC website, there are “7,000 years of artifacts to prove it.”

Northeastern Austria

Wachau

Austria’s Wachau appellation is the country’s most acclaimed region. About an hour northwest of Vienna along the Danube River, the vista of the steep, terraced vineyards of the Wachau creates a magnificent landscape akin to a verdant, ancient amphitheater—it is a UNESCO World Heritage site, after all. With rich and unique soils here of löess and gneiss, which lend vivid minerality to the wine.

Eastern Austria

Burgenland

The Burgenland appellation, running along Austria’s border with Hungary southeast of Vienna, has a diverse topography and a mix of soils, with more primary rock and slate at higher locations and dense loams in the rolling hills that extend toward the Pannonian plain.

Southeastern Austria

Steiermark

The region of Styria (Steiermark) is in southeastern Austria which sits near the border with Slovenia. This area is studded with long-extinct volcanoes whose deposits are a key component of the local soils and the vineyards benefit from a classic Austrian push-pull of cool Alpine air and warmer “Pannonian” currents from the east.

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