If it were up to me, Austrian Gruner Veltliner would be the daily fare on everyone’s dinner table. Its characteristics are perfectly suited to a broad array of cuisines, from spicy Asian fare to richer dishes of fish, poultry or pork. Typically lower in alcohol than many other white wines, it doesn’t lack for body, texture and flavor interest. In fact, it’s hard to describe it accurately because there are so many attributes it displays, depending on the region, producer and style. Among the various fruit expressions, you find citrus of lemon, lime and grapefruit as well as pear, apricot and other stone fruits. The body and structure of the wine offer up hints of white pepper, crushed oyster shells and wet stones, all leading to a tantalizingly dry finish. An added bonus is that most Gruners are well within the everyday price range, although the top tier, single-vineyard cuvées will set you back a bit more.

After that big buildup, it’s time to introduce one of my current favorites, the 2022 Hirsch Gruner Veltliner ‘Hirschvergnugen’, made by Johannes Hirsch and his family at their small but prestigious estate in the Kamptal region of eastern Austria. His is an old estate that has been in the family’s hands for generations. Johannes’ father switched to organic viticulture in 2006, now certified with the highest credentials in Austria. Johannes also utilizes some bio-dynamic techniques because he wants his wines to be as pure as possible; expressive of the minerally soils of their vineyard holdings, situated in the rolling hillsides near the village of Kammern. The low-yielding vines, planted at high density, produce perfectly ripe fruit that is then pressed ‘whole cluster’, fermented in stainless steel tanks using native yeasts and aged on the lees before bottling. The 2022 Hirschvergnugen is not the winery’s most expensive cuvee but it’s a gorgeous example of the grape variety, the terroir of the district and the Hirsh style. I plan on enjoying plenty of this delicious GruVe over the next few months and I think you should too.