Gettin' Grroovy with Grrrüner Veltliner

GRR, baby, Grrrüner Veltliner was our sexy semi-obscure darling grape of the week. No finding this puppy at Trader Joe's. This major Austrian varietal has been gaining in popularity as an interesting, very food friendly wine (supposedly it's the best match for awkward asparagus). And so we scrambled to our local wine merchants to seek out their one or two bottles of Grüner Veltliner.

We kicked off the event with one of three bottles 2008 Berger Grüner Veltliner (Kremstal, Austria), $13. Apparently the Berger rep has pretty good distribution in SF or we all magically flocked to the same bottle. Either way, on the nose Alex smelled a hefty helping of citrus, Nikki noted a minerally smell, and I got green apples doused in lemon juice.
On the palate, there was some frizzante action going on, i.e. a faint bubbly-wubbliness. Meghan picked up some artificial citrusy Lifesaver and Nikki agreed, hinting that it was probably the white Lifesaver. Overall, we found this to be a solid wine, and for a 1 liter bottle at $13 bucks, not bad.

Segundo was a 2006 Felsner "Moosburgerin" Grüner Veltliner (Kremstal, Austria), $15. After wondering if this wine would pair with moose burgers, Nikki got some vegetal, asparagus, white pepper, and grapefruit on the nose. Nailed it.
On the palate, Tim, Nikki, and I noticed the higher acid of this wine. There was also some minerality going and Nikki tasted a green apple finish.

Next up, the 2007 Huber Hugo Grüner Veltliner (Niederösterreich, Austria), $12. Off the bat, Alberto smelled day old refrigerated lime. Nikki smelled cotton candy. I, strangely, got barnyard.
The palate had this strange, almost oaky feel and there was also some cool minerally green apple stuff goin' on. Also, this wine had the coolest, modern looking label of the night. The wine was good, so this pretty girl also had some brains.

Huber part deux was the the 2007 Huber Grüner Veltliner (Obere Steigen Traisental, Austria). I don't know where the #@(% this wine is from. DAMN YOU, Austria, and your hard to spell confusing geographical messiness when it comes to wine. Anyways, Tim pointed out that this wine smelled the sweetest thus far, and Nikki and I got guava, plus some papaya and general tropical fruitiness. I layed down the elusive umami, since this wine damn well smelled like it.
In the mouth it was super crisp, more complex, definitely different, and Nikki got an iron, minerally finish.

Bottle 5: 2007 Petra Unger Grüner Veltliner (Kremstal Oberfeld, Austria).
For the nose I got caramel apple pop sucker (the ones we used to sell in middle school to raise money). Meghan got burnt shugga.
The palate was crisp and minerally like the others but less fruity with Nikki noticing some lime peel action. Smelled like a bellini to me.

Le coup de grace was the 2008 Bio-Weingut Gruner Veltliner (somewhere in, Austria). Honeyed peach came through on the nose with Alex getting blood orange, I got apple champagne, and Tim said, smells pretty.
The palate was efferevecsent, Nikki and Tim found jasmine, someone noted a Belgian beer aftertaste, and Nikki felt it tasted more like a riesling and might not have been varietally correct. This other big green 1L monster was definitely a trip and I'll have to seek it out again.

Katie pretty well summarized our overall impression of Grüner: "Shut up and drink this."

YWSF

NOR*CAL ZIN*FAN*DEL

After a hella long time, San Francisco earned it’s well-deserved, brand spanking new chapter of The Young Winos. To kick off the magical occasion, we chose the classic “California grape” Zinfandel. Hailing originally from Croatia, Zin found a loving home in California around the same time Eastern European immigrants who brought over grapes did. The Young Winos of SF set up shop in Nor Cal, and dammnit, so did our Zinfandel for our first tasting…

The inaugural bottle was a 2007 Cline Zinfandel (California), $8. On the nose, Nikki got blackberry, Amy noticed black cherry, cake/pastry sugariness was Katie’s contribution, Collin smelled oranges, and I noticed some unripe funkberries.

We all agreed the palate seemed a little thin/light/soft and there was some sourness going on coupled with a higher acidity. We weren’t super enthused, but hey it’s $8. Next!

Not only did I unabashedly copy Ridge Vineyard’s label for our event page, I trekked up to their Healdsburg tasting room in order to throw down a bottle of the 2007 Ridge East Bench Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley), $30. This wine from one of the classic California zin producers showed raspberry and blackberry up front on the nose. Tim got a whiff of some vanilla, Nikki found spicy caramel, and Alex got cranberry.

On the palate, Nikki sensed some of the alcohol, as did the rest of us, but it wasn’t particularly out of balance. Tim got berries with a vanilla finish. Overall, we found it balanced, complex with some definite body.

Our next victim was a 2006 Klinker Brick Winery Zinfandel (Lodi), $18. Collin got a blackberry jam component on the nose. Nikki and I got raspberry. Deep and jammy indeedy.

The palate delivered dark, ripe fruit, Tim tasted something ashy, and we found it fruity, perhaps a little sweet, with some noticeable alcohol. Collin thought it was a good value for $18.

And the finale: 2006 Sol Rouge Tom Feeney Ranch Zinfandel (Russian River Valley), $36. We yanked this from the shelf at Winery Collective and had high hopes for this zin blended from 3 old and famous vineyards in the RRV. Right off the bat, Collin said “smells like a zinfandel.” …Always a good sign. Nikki found it perfume-y, Amy got black licorice, Alex got cherry, Katie said strawberry candy and I smelled whatever “dark brooding deliciousness” is.

The palate showed us bright plum, Nikki tasted lighter red fruits, and Alex mentioned a touch of pepper, as well as pointing out that this would be a good wine to drink w/ barbequed food.

This was our favorite bottle out of the line up. Someone mentioned it was a good looking bottle, and that it was a “good wine drinking wine.” ‘Nuff said.

At the end, we looked more like this:

YWSF