A Hedonist in the Cellar_ Adventures in Wine - Jay McInerney [33]
As far as dry Riesling is concerned, there are three wine regions in eastern Austria that need concern us: the Wachau and the Kremstal, where the best vineyards rise above the Danube River, and the Kamptal, farther north along the river Kamp. Wachau is the most celebrated region for Austrian whites, with vineyards as steep and picturesque as those of Côte-Rôtie and the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer. It’s home to the Big Four: F. X. Pichler, Hirtzberger, Prager, and Emmerich Knoll. Close on their heels are Alzinger, Jamek, and Rudi Pichler. Also located here is one of the world’s few great wine cooperatives, Freie Weingärtner Wachau, whose excellent wines are a relative bargain.
Wachau has its own classification system of ripeness. The lightest, lowest-alcohol wines are called Steinfeder. Federspiel is riper and richer. The highest classification, Smaragd, named after a local emerald-green lizard, is roughly equivalent to a German Spätlese; Smaragds are full-bodied, rich, and powerful, and can stand up to all manner of spicy dishes and oily fishes.
The Kremstal, to the east of Wachau, also produces some brilliant wines. The soils here are more limestone and clay, as opposed to the gneiss and granite that underlie the hillside vineyards of Wachau. Nigl and Salomon are my favorite producers. The Kamptal region, best known for its Grüner Veltliners, also produces great Rieslings—especially those from Bründlmayer, Hiedler, and Hirsch. Sadly, there is no universally observed classification system that I can discern in these two regions—generally the best wines are named for single vineyards, like the great Zöbinger Heiligenstein, in Kamptal. Alcohol content is a good guide to body and power—not that you will be able to determine this from a wine list. The words alte reben— “old vines”—are probably a good sign. And once in a while you will see the German designations of ripeness— Kabinett, Spätlese, Auslese, etc.—on a bottle.
The easiest system to follow is to seek out the wines of importers Vin Divino and Terry Theise, the latter a self-described Riesling “wacko” (his company motto is “We spit so you can swallow”). Most of the makers listed above also produce fine Grüner Veltliners, Austria’s unique peppery contribution to the wine world. Theise informs me that the Austrians tend to start a meal with Riesling and move on to Grüner. He believes that German Riesling is more compatible with the sweeter dishes of the “modern eclectic multiculti” restaurants. But many new-wave chefs and sommeliers declaim the versatility of the drier Austrian product, and let’s face it, some of you will never be converted to the German team.
Austrian Riesling is a natural with the Austrian-influenced food at David Bouley’s Danube in New York; it can also get down with many spicier Latin and Asian fusion dishes. “It’s the king of wines,” says chef Jonathan Waxman, who goes so far as to recommend it with slow-cooked spring lamb. “It can go the distance from white wine food to red wine food.” The worst thing I can say about Austrian Riesling is that it doesn’t come cheap. A great bottle from F. X. Pichler can cost as much as seventy-five dollars. But you can catch the buzz with examples in the twenty-dollar range from Domäne Wachau or Salomon. The qualitative distance between the good and the great is relatively short. Impress your sommelier or your wine merchant by calling out for a Wachau or a Kamptal Riesling. And prepare to impress yourself.
THE SEMI-OBSCURE TREASURES OF ALSACE
A few years ago I wrote about the impossibility of finding a wine