Mantlerhof    Brunn im Felde    Kremstal

Having planned to see Sepp Mantler anyway, I was not overly surprised to learn that he and Terry Theise had parted company. I was grateful, when I did learn of it, that Terry told me it was fine for me to work with him if I wished: colleagues, not competitors, a very good idea. I'm not quite sure why it never seemed to work with Terry. I've always loved the wines, and have offered them to you (there are still a few older wines available, see the inventory). In Austria, Sepp is not only one of the most well liked vintners, he is also one of the most respected. Long famed for his magnificent Roter Veltliner, he has built a very high reputation with them and with his Grüner Veltliners and Rieslings. From what I can tell, in the Kremstal, he is second only to Martin Nigl, and that's high praise. Either way, I was delighted to visit him, and hopeful I would love the wines. This was our last visit, and frankly, we were a bit tired. 60 wineries in a month are plenty. Expecting a normal tasting, we arrived around 10am, thinking maybe a couple of hours, but no, this is Austria, and one of the friendliest people in the world. We had to visit the winery cellar, up in the loess slopes, there find an appropriate old wine to try; we had to visit the vineyards themselves, and get the full guided tour. We talked about many things. We were invited to lunch, in the Wachau, at Knoll's Heurige-Restaurant. We left at around 5pm.

Sepp is a wonderful host, a thoughtful man, and has almost 40 years of experience to draw upon. He began poking about in the winery with his father in the late sixties, and more or less took over about ten years later. His father was a classmate of Willi Bründlmayer Sr. and he with Willi Jr. There is a close relationship there, and with Emmerich Knoll, also a class mate. But he also told us that his wife's Great, Great, Great Grandfather first planted grapes here in 1805. The production is 47% Grüner Veltliner, 25% Riesling, 10% Roter Veltliner, and the rest with various grapes, Muskateller, Merlot, Neuburger, Chardonnay and more that I've forgotten. Sepp is the kind of fellow who wants to show you how wines age, especially those from poor or mediocre vintages. So we started off with a 1981 Veltliner Kabinett from the Spiegel. This wine was utterly fabulous, a lanolin-coconut nose, light, clean and pure. He says that neither acidity nor alcohol determine aging ability, only ripeness (though his definition of ripeness, I suspect, is not simply more is riper). Sepp is now working Organic, and, like Poller, it will take a few years before that is official. Though he has many different wines, I decided to pick six to begin. Half of them have screw caps (Stelvin), and half cork.

A few years ago, I remember visiting on a warm spring day with a group of people, organized by Terry Theise. We tasted the wines and had a tremendous lunch, typically Austrian. The Hof, like many here, has a severe outside facade, but then opens into a large open area, with a garden, and with buildings on either side, house and winery. It's a little like a pueblo, a kind of mini village behind the high closed doors. The place seemed idyllic, the wines were lovely. None of us could know that not long after, the tiny Kamp, a minor stream that flows from the north into the Danube, would completely flood the broad valley, and especially down in Brunn im Felde. Sepp had only a few hours to get everything as high up as possible when the flood came. It rose eight feet or so in the house. The second floors were spared, barely, but it was a disaster, and the Mantlers were among the hardest hit. You can hardly tell now. Sepp shrugs and says that is the life of a farmer.

A general definition of his wines would be that he likes extract. The wines can have elegance and structure; in fact, they always have that, but what immediately impresses you is their flavors, and the intensity of those flavors. In that, he has more in common with the Wagram people, as opposed to Nigl, or Geyerhof. We often speak of elegance and style, but surprisingly rarely about flavors. If you want to find out what the grapes really taste like, Mantler is a very good place to start. Though these wines are not reductive in style; rather they are vinous. They fill your mouth with flavor. They are, in some ways the direct opposite of the Summerer style. The good news is that you don't have to choose between them - you can have both.

What follows are some tasting notes from my first visit here, at least as Sepp's importer.

Sepp Mantler in his cellar,seeking out very old, very funky wine.
Note headlamps. == >

2006 is a superb vintage here. Oddly, though, the simple Riesling and Veltliner were disappointing, a fact that Sepp readily admitted. They are simply too acidic, and perhaps a bit green. 2006 is a vintage that demands a certain level of ripeness, and the light wines really didn't work. No such problem attended the 2006 Grüner Veltliner Lößterrassen. Chosen as the featured wine for the Vienna Art Festival, I managed to secure only a small amount of it, and was happy for that. The wine is fairly rich, with classic Veltliner green bean spiciness. You could hang out with the scent of the wine all day, real aroma therapy, that nose. The finish is long and true. The 2006 Grüner Veltliner Mosburgerin is from a newly purchased vineyard. This vineyard produced Walter Buchegger's best Veltliner. And the wine is sensational, with a floral nose, typical of the vintage, and a wonderful sweetness of flavor. This is a fabulous Veltliner, one of the best of the offering, again, comparable to the best of Gobelsburg. The 2006 Grüner Veltliner Spiegel is the big boy of the collection. I wrote that this wine was almost pure scent, though a touch more restrained than the Mosburgerin. It will need time to integrate its very sizable flavors. These three Veltliners are probably the finest I've ever tried from this winery. Sepp (by the way, 'Sepp' is a kind of nick-name for Joseph) is known in Austria as the maker of the best Roter Veltliner in the country. This is an old, even ancient grape, which bears no relation whatsoever to Grüner Veltliner. It is difficult to describe. Terry once said he thought Roter Veltliner tasted a little like Grüner Veltliner after 5 years of aging. That's gets near it, as long as you recognize that the flavors are completely different. Apparently, the grape is a pain to work with, which is one reason you see it only rarely these days. I have purchased another Roter Veltliner from Setzer, an excellent estate which Terry brings in, specifically to show the difference between a reductive wine maker (Setzer) and one who is not (Mantler). This 2006 Roter Veltliner Reisenthal has tremendous sweet fruit, is faintly bready, like a fine Champagne. Sepp feels it is his most expressive since the 1999. It must be tasted, better yet, drunk, to be believed. The 2006 Riesling Tiefenthal comes from a vineyard with very old clones of Riesling, the vines around 35 years old. This is a spicy Riesling with a citrus blossom nose. In the mouth Riesling's innate minerality comes through. I wrote that is was as though some of the Nahe had been filtered through Austrian vineyards. It's a lovely wine. The 2006 Riesling Wieland is the Smaragd of the assortment. It reminded me of Wachau Riesling in its body and texture. With excellent acidity, intense stoniness, this is a classic and fitting conclusion to a great tasting.

Summerer     Langenlois     Kamptal

The town of Langenlois could be called the hub of much of the wine world in Austria. About an hour from Vienna, it is just down the road from the Wachau and the Kremstal to the west, and just east is the Wagram and the beginnings of the Weinviertel. It is in a kind of bowl in the Kamptal. (Tal, remember, means 'valley', and that valley, and the little stream, the Kamp, which flows through it, seems utterly removed from the immense flood that half-drowned a number of the wineries I deal with a few years ago - see Hirsch and Mantler.) It's an odd little town, surrounded on all sides by vineyards. There are few trees in the town, so that, if you walk onto the main square in mid-day in Summer, it feels almost like one of those desert towns in the Mohave. I've never felt quite comfortable there, even though a number of my favorite wineries are either in or else around the town. Bründlmayer, Gobelsburg, Hirsch (just outside), Hiedler, Loimer - all are part of a thriving wine scene. There is a new, Frank Geary-like (but not by him) wine museum, along with a fancy hotel and restaurant. One evening Willi Bründlmayer (one of the great souls of Austria) took us out to dinner there. The wine cellar is a glass case that one can look in and decide what you want to drink. Willi and I were doing that, and I picked out a wine from a producer unknown to me out of curiosity. There was also a slightly older wine from Summerer that I thought might be good. I looked at Willi for advice, and he, who is the perfect gentleman and would never say something disparaging about a colleague, paused, and said, very quietly, 'I think the Summerer would be much better'.

Rupert Summerer, and his wife, Elizabeth are young, energetic, and attractive. They live in the center of Langenlois, in a typically old Hof, which they have remodeled and made quite beautiful. They have land in one of my all time favorite vineyards, the Steinmassel (or Steinmassl). One of the cardinal rules, when you're looking for a new estate, is how the whole range tastes, not just the plums. Even though you're only going to buy maybe four or five different wines, it is important that they are all attractive, all desirable. That, if possible, I'd buy every wine tasted if I could. It was like that here. The Rieslings were sleek and perfumed. In a great Veltliner vintage (2004), the Rieslings had nothing to fear. My sense, in fact, is that this is a 'Riesling' estate, in that they have a very special hand with this noblest of all grapes. It will be interesting to see if this continues in the future. And the Veltliners are classic, a little bit of creamed corn along with a fine, peppery base. If anything, they seemed closer to Wachau wines than their neighbors. As usual, this is hardly a 'new' winery - it was founded in 1679, and, if I understood correctly, has been in the same family ever since. 60% of the production is in Veltliner, about 20% in Riesling, and another 20% is red, mostly Zweigelt. The estate has about 20 hectares in production. The winery itself is modern and simple. All wines are bottled with glass corks, which, if you haven't seen them, are very classy looking and quite easy to use. Of my estates, Poller also uses mostly glass closures, and Ott is entirely 'Stelvin' screw caps. The cork industry must be getting nervous - as well they should.

Summerer's wines are crystal clear and clean. The grapes are grown mostly in Urgestein (primary rock), and reveal wines with strong minerality. In style, they are the opposite of Ludwig Hiedler, which is delightful, since they share some of the same vineyards and produce marvelous wine in their very different styles. Kamptal wines generally are broader and more powerful than most Kremstal wines. They can be as burly as the biggest monster from the Wachau, but they seem earthier than their Wachau cousins. But Summerer's wines are clear and a bit austere, unlike many of their colleagues. I have found that they appeal strongly to a particular kind of wine drinker, one who prefers lean wines with substance, and wines that go with food. In that, they are excellent restaurant wines.

Except for the great Heiligenstein vineyard, Summerer's holdings are a list of the finest vineyards in and around Langenlois: Steinhaus, Schenkenbichl and Käferberg for Veltliners, and Steinmassl and Seeberg for Riesling. There are also simpler wines that are quite wonderful, labeled Langenlois and Urgestein. As far as I can tell, this is an estate which is on the upswing, with lovely, young, committed people making better and better wines every year.

I wanted, of course, a Wachau estate. The Wachau continues to enjoy the most prestige, the most sex appeal, and the highest prices of any wine region in Austria. Why this is so is relatively easy to understand. This tiny area along the Danube is extraordinarily beautiful and consequently, a tourist magnet. Only an hour or so from Vienna, it nonetheless feels as though one had stepped into a rural fairyland. With ruined castles, beautiful towns, and plenty of history, this is a great place to visit. Wonderful restaurants and hotels don't hurt. I stay at one of them, the Landhaus Bacher (which has one of the best restaurants anywhere, a fabulous staff, and sweet, unpretentious rooms) and never want to leave.

The brilliant idea of reclassifying wines with those colorful names, Steinfeder, Federspiel, and Smaragd, has stuck in the minds of all of us who are interested in Austrian wine. And then, there is the quality of the wines themselves. Wachau wines have one thing no other region in Austria possesses: an almost slinky, seductive texture. It is almost unmistakable. You feel as though you were on a magic carpet of flavor. The best of them are like great art, seemingly effortless and utterly natural, but at the same time rare and precious, and the product of a tremendous amount of effort and sensitivity, the art that conceals art, as it were.

Most of you know these names: (in no particular order) Hirtzberger, Prager, Alzinger, Nikolaihof, Pichler (F.X. & Rudi), Knoll, Jamek, and several others. We know them, of course, because their wines are excellent. Only problem being, that they are also a bit pricey. Now you can make the point (and I would) that even a $75 Riesling, if comparable to a great white Burgundy (and I think many are) is a pretty fair deal compared to the $125 and more you must pay for that Lafon or Leflaive. I agree, and will continue to promote the great wines from this region. But you can get great Smaragd from great estates for less than that, and I recommend you do so. There are still a few good values in the Wachau, wines of great integrity from small producers. And that's where Mr. Bäuerl comes in.

Bäuerl (a very difficult name for us Yanks to pronounce correctly) is in the little village of Joching, up the street and behind Joseph Jamek. His estate is tiny, only 5 hectares (though he leases 2 more). Though the vineyards overlap, the wines are quite different. Whereas Jamek is elegant, subtle, and fine, Bäuerl's are lusty and earthy, with plenty of stuffing. They are not the most elegant wines in the world, but they give you the goods, and are just packed with flavor. Young Johann Bäuerl (can he be thirty yet?) is tall and thin, very boyish, and rather shy. Perhaps that is due to his very rudimentary English? His German is idiomatic and strongly accented, and not easy for me to follow. His hands, which are large and expressive, are farmer's hands, see the photograph. He has never exported before and is not well-known, yet. But it is clear that a fire burns in him. He is ambitious, wants to ascend to the front rank of Wachau growers, and with his energy and seriousness, I'm sure he will. Meanwhile, we have a number of lovely wines at very reasonable prices.

His best vineyard is the Pichl Point, which Jamek also has, but there is also the excellent Stein am Rain, Ritzling, and Steinterrassen. Both Riesling and Veltliner are grown in all sites. His Federspiel level wines are perfect for restaurants, exactly what you want with food, not too heavy, but with plenty of flavor. His Smaragd wines have all the power you could ask for, though I'm sensing that Bäuerl prefers wines that are not too alcoholic, so that even though they have a kind of forcefulness to them, they are not ponderous, or thick. That slinky Wachau characteristic is always in evidence.

Germany

Winter         Dittelsheim          Rheinhessen

In 2007, I pledged to try and find something in Germany to import. Even though German wines were (and are) my specialty, and I had had almost twenty years of experience, still, I was nervous, and not very confident. I had friends to help me in Austria, and besides, Austria is filled with dozens of lovely wineries not yet imported. I could go back now and find another twenty in less than two weeks. That's slowly changing, but still. Germany is well-plowed country. I spoke with a German vintner who serves as an exporter too, and he was rather skeptical. Everything's taken, he said, by some one. But it turned out not to be true. Young vintners are appearing out of thin air, it seems, and, in sometimes neglected properties, and appellations, are making splendid wine. They form groups to market their wine. They are young Turks. And if you are open to some of the seemingly radical things they are doing, they are very exciting. And, I had forgotten that I have many friends in Germany, and it seems as if they all know someone, a neighbor perhaps, whose wines are not exported. So, with this richness, I began.

I think that, in 2006, I commented on the fact that the Rheinhessen is the most happening place in Germany. Terry Theise has remarked on it, and brought in several new vintners. From a few tips, that's exactly what I did as well. There is a group of young vintners who are out to prove the Rheinhessen is where it's at. The group is called Message in a Bottle. And yes, it's in English. I know seven wineries in the group quite well, and am familiar with a half a dozen more. These people are very exciting.

<==Typical Rheinhessen Landscape, somewhere between Gau Odernheim and Dittelsheim. Note the windmills.

Dittelsheim is out in the hinterlands of the Rheinhessen. You'd hardly think this was vine country, except, when you look closely, you see vineyards on the south sides of hills, and little signs in the villages Wein Verkauf (wine for sale). It doesn't look like much, and at times these villages reminded me of some of the villages in Greece where some guy would be selling his wine out of barrel into the plastic liter water bottles you brought with you. I'm overstating it of course (and, by the way, there are some pretty good Greek wines too) but still, it doesn't look all that promising. The Rheinhessen is no Mosel. But look a little more carefully and you might find someone like Stefan Winter.

You get off the Autobahn and drive through rolling hills and scattered wind mills (wind energy is very big in Germany). The town is pretty grey, without much to distinguish it from countless other towns, all ending in heim (home). The Hof is where one meets with the family. The winery is about a kilometer away, on the side of a hill at the edge of town. It is modern and filled with gleaming stainless steel. Stefan's family has been making wine here for many generations (Werner Winter planted the first Rieslings in 1600), but whose tradition goes back even further, to the 14th Century. The family originally came from Austria, which makes a nice little segue for me. Stefan is young (is he even thirty? I doubt it), and he and his brother manage the winery. Most of the vineyards are around 25 years old. Natural yeast is used for all the vineyard wines. He makes loads of different wines from almost 20 hectares, producing only about 7000 cases per year, thus the yields are quite low. He is known as an Aufsteiger, literally an up and comer, in Gault-Millau, and has built a loyal and excited clientele in Germany. It is easy to understand why, but here's the rub.

For classic German wine lovers, these wines are very modern, untypical, and, gulp, dry. Now before you run away screaming, you should know that, until a couple of years ago, I would have been out in front, running with you as fast as I could. But I can't deny the quality of these wines, nor their beauty. The Germans seem to be getting it finally, figuring out how to make a perfectly balanced wine that tastes utterly German, and unique, but which is dry. I suppose Global Warming may have something to do with it - the vintages have been awfully ripe every year, it seems, since maybe 2000, and before that, 1991. Or maybe my tastes have changed. Actually, I think it's a combination of the three, but I want you to try these wines, especially those of you who prefer the old style, the normal Kabinetts and Spätlesen. I think you will fall in love with them just as I have. At any rate, Winter is a superb discovery. They will be great hits in restaurants as well. I predict this winery will become one of the hottest in Germany. And you will have your chance to be ahead of the curve.

Winter in the little tasting room at the Hof. I think he is old enough to legally drink in the US == >

There are three levels of wines here: an Estate (Guts) Riesling, very classy, and perfect for daily drinking, actually, it's much better than your daily plonk, even if your daily plonk is better than most; this is superb wine. Then comes a Village Riesling, which he calls Kalkstein, denoting the soil, which is one of my favorite dry wines in Germany, and an individual vineyard wine, the Leckerberg, which suggests happily how tasty the wine is (lecker is what you say to the server at a restaurant when the meal was particularly good: Na Ja, das war Lecker!). In 2007 we brought in a tiny amount of wine, we had problems with label approval, and by the time that was all fixed, most of the wine was sold out. As I write this, we are waiting for a second shipment, from a lovely liter wine to a superb dry vineyard Riesling. There is also a dry Scheurebe that will thrill all lovers of this fascinating grape. I anticipate a long and lovely relationship with these people.