Let’s be honest, when you check out the fridge in a bottle shop, it’s rare you’ll see a bottle of Grüner Veltliner on one of the shelves. In fact, I’d go so far as to say, never. Further to that, I doubt there would be much of this variety sitting on shelves in the store because it’s not a variety that is well known to usual Jo Citizen. And, not to mention, its scarcity on restaurant wine lists too!
I can even say, and this is fair dinkum, that I went into a local bottleshop (not one of the biggies) to buy a bottle and the shop assistant had never heard of the variety. This is not a criticism of the shop attendant at all, but I think it is a sad reflection on the ‘status’ of Grüner Veltliner in the white wine world, certainly in Australia anyway.
However, this does not mean that this dining table rarity does not deserve its place in the sun…or cold when it comes to the Orange region of New South Wales where these two excellent examples came from.
Region: Orange Region, NSW Source: Samples thanks kindly to Stockman’s Ridge and Define Wine
The 2022 Rider Grüner Veltliner is the perfect example of the variety to get people to drink Grüner. It’s a very pretty and complex wine aromatically that leads nicely into the flavoursome palate. Here, it’s smooth with a gentle intensity, a nice touch of acidity adding freshness on the finish. I reckon this particular Grüner will have fans of the variety drinking more of it…easily!
Moving on to this delightful 2022 Signature Range Grüner Veltliner was a pleasure. It’s generously flavoured, beautifully textured, rich while maintaining elegance and poise with lovely palate presence, finishing long and lip smackingly good. This Grüner seems to just glide effortlessly across the palate and, dare I say, sharing it was difficult…but I did.
Words from a Wine Glass 