Nikolaihof Grüner Veltliner Vinothek

Short note - earl grey, honey melon, lemon peel, red apples, complex, perfect aged, high concentration, long finish, the best gruner iv'e tasted, absolutely amazing, mesmerizing wine. 96p

Needed air. I have zero experience with older GV, but this was very good. White/yellow fruit, still a bit peppery but in a mellow rather than aggressive way, dry, good concentration with very nice integration between the fruit and acidity with good length if not especially mineral. Not super complex or powerful, but very nice.

An amazing wine to sit down with and follow over a few hours. Even with a lot of other wine at the table, I kept going back to this for the sheer depth and complexity - the aromas start out with bright green citrus fruit and verdant/herbal notes, showing barely any signs of its age, but with more air it becomes more savoury with smoky, earthy, and dusty mineral notes emerging around the fruit, and other hay and dried floral …

Harmony II (The Ledbury) : Lovely light style of Gruner, though its origins far from obvious, a million miles away from a more common smargd style, light and calm with some RS and firm acidity.

Ahh, this ROCKED! An intense nose, peppery, spicy. The palate though is bone dry with intense, persistent lemony minerality. Wow, this is one intense and puckery wine, and the finish is about a minute, clean, pure, peppery. Quintessential GruVe. Outstanding!

Expressive nose of petrol, intriguing citrus and lynchee fruit, and a subtle dried flower element. On the palate, petrol, minerals, lemon. Quite powerful and complex. Impressive but not cheap.

Off the list at EMP. Evidently in barrel for 14 years and eventually good enough to release. Amazing nose of steely citrus and cloves with a touch of raspberry. The palate is wonderful- long but light with real grip. great stuff.

Monthly Tasting Group HWS #026; Austria: White wines. (By AW) : Unbelievable. What a freshness for a wine that stayed in the barrel for 1½ decade! Complex and elegant. This time I described the bouquet and taste as butterscotch. Well hidden acidity and a long lingering aftertaste. For the rest; see my older note. I scored it a little less this time, but I love this wine.

Claret Coup d'Etat (Eleven Madison Park) : Practically fetal, mind-bogglingly so for a wine that's nominally 15 years old; apparently it spent most of that time in cask instead of the bottle. The color is still a youthful off-white with a green refraction and the wine is intensely aromatic with some florality but also some weird chemical stuff that smells like hairspray or some household cleaning agent. Nobody really thought this tasted like Gruner; I probably would have guessed Pinot …

Dinner at Eleven Madison Park (New York, NY) : A nice green glow. This starts out surprisingly sweet and seems more reminiscent of Riesling than Grüner. However with aeration it gets more varietally true with spice, flowers and that nice bit of pepper that Grüner can show.

Occasional tasting group: Top Austria (@ JdZ) : This is what I call a sniff wine. Something new to discover every 5 minutes. At first just a little petrol, later almonds. Full bodied, round, butter, good candy acidity, refinement and bitterness. Very long aftertaste with butter candy. A beautiful complex wine. Surprisingly youthful for a wine that is 16 years old. I was impressed, but not everybody agreed with me.