SCHLOSS GOBELSBURG | “Renner” Erste Lage Grüner Veltliner 2015

(Kamptal, Austria) $38

The single vineyard known as Renner is an “Erste Lage”—the equivalent of a Premier Cru. And it’s a sensational place for grüner veltliner vines which, when planted in the right spot, give a wine that is a bullet train of minerals and white pepper. Gruner is the white grape of Austria, and it can make one of the most “alive” white wines in the world. I always find that Schloss Gobelsburg’s grüners are positively kinetic with energy.  You cannot go through the summer without tasting this. (13.5% abv)

92 points KM

Available at The Wine Cellarage

More Wines to Know…

What is Pierce’s Disease?

A.  A fungus that attacks any green part of the plant and damages the vine’s shoots
B.  A bacterial disease which is spread by an insect called a sharpshooter
C.  A wilting of the vine caused by grape moths who feast on the leaves
D.  A black rot which spreads after poorly handled vineyard equipment pierces the vine trunk

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Here’s the answer…

Thursday, May 24, is the 42nd Anniversary of the Judgment of Paris, widely considered the tasting that vaulted California wine onto the international stage. We asked Steven Spurrier, the creator and organizer of that historic event, what the Judgment of Paris has meant to him.  Steven responded:

“A couple of years ago my 8-year-old grandson asked ‘Grandpa, why are you famous?’  All I needed to do was to show him George Taber’s book Judgment of Paris whose subtitle was ‘the historic 1976 Paris Tasting that revolutionized wine.’ While this event did make me famous, it turned out to be a ‘win-win’ situation for both California and France, but more importantly it created a template whereby unknown wines of quality could be tasted blind against known wines of quality and if the judges themselves were of quality, their opinion would be respected. The best example of this was Eduardo Chadwick’s 2004 Berlin Tasting. Paris 1976 opened the game to all comers.” 

Steals under $20

FABRE EN PROVENCE Côtes-du-Rhône Rosé 2017 (Provence, FR) $15
Light as a whisper. Breezes by your palate so effortlessly that you’ll drink the whole bottle before you know it.

WEINGUT FRANK Gruner Veltliner 2016 (Weinviertel, Austria) $12
A minerally, light white; sensational for the price. Drink frank in place of a spritzer all spring/summer long.

MACMURRAY ESTATE VINEYARDS Pinot Gris 2016 (Russian River valley, CA) $16
Need something refreshing with a little more adult oompf than a lemonade? This is it. Citrusy, fresh and infinitely quaffable.

País

País (pie EECE) is the historic grape behind Chile’s table wines. Originally known as criolla chica, pais (the name means “country”) is the same as California’s…keep reading…

In response to my blog Women or Men—Who Has Better Wine Tasting Ability?(WineSpeed 5/11/2018), Anthony Lynch of Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant wrote:

“I quite enjoyed the article about women’s tasting abilities! One thing I’ve noticed is that women tend to be less afraid than men of saying the wrong thing when tasting, which often leads to more candid commentary. Men more often seem like they feel they need to be in the know, which often backfires when they act knowledgeable when in fact they don’t know what they’re talking about.”

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All white wine comes from white (actually yellowish) grapes.

Answer: False. No matter if the skins of grapes are red or white, the pulp—the juice and material inside each grape—is almost always white. That means that if red grapes are pressed quickly and the skins are immediately removed from the juice, you can make white wine out of red grapes. The most common example of this is sparkling wine and Champagne where the red grape pinot noir is used to make Champagne, which is generally white.

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