I would never think I would have Gruner Veltliner as a title on a Graileys Blog… As much as we love our Bordeaux, Burgundy and California Cabernet, the bottles we have opened this week have been somewhat outside of our norm… In these dog days of summer, we have been enjoying spectacular, crunchy, refreshing white wines from Grand Cru Chablis to alpine boutique Italian Chardonnay and all the Sancerre you can dream of. But the white wine that has stood out to me all week is the mineraly, herbal, super fresh and clean Gruner Vetliners from Austria! The 2014 Brundlmayer Gruner Veltliner Ried Lamm completely refreshes and quenches the palate with white peach, sweet lemons and limes, with funky hints of white pepper, fresh scallions, jicama and crushed river rocks. The 2013 Schloss Gobelsburg Tradition Gruver Veltliner has been a huge hit with our members as well! With a weightier palate, riper fruit and rounded spice, Schloss Gobelsburg is an Austrian icon that belongs in everyone’s glass this summer!
We also opened a bottle of 1999 Cinq Cepages and a bottle of 2001 Vall Llach! What a treat!! The ’99 Cinq Cepages was very reminiscent of Right Bank Bordeaux with plush texture and elegance. The fruit was soft while the cigar, leather and spice were beautiful and sweet. The finish lingers for what seems like forever, which was A-okay with me. The ‘01 Vall Llach was very interesting to try. We’ve had the stellar 2004 vintage not too long ago so it was really fascinating to have the 2001 vintage in comparison. It had the signature abundant, rich, dark and rustic flavors of Priorat that all stuck on the mid-palate but the lead into the finish was somewhat disjointed. The finish was a dancing shadow of crushed gravel, dusty lavender and violets and dried concentrated black fruit.
These scorching days of summer have not slowed us down here at Graileys and tonight we will finish the week strong with a bottle of 1997 Araujo Eisele Vineyard Cabernet, 2010 Sine Qua Non Five Shooter Grenache, 2005 Harlan The Maiden and much much more!