I am quite pleased that this week I have been able to return, probably briefly, to the original premise of this exercise, which was to select one wine a week based on the initial letter of the name of the principal grape whose juice has ended up in the bottle. As I am on lap five of the alphabet this is becoming harder to achieve, especially for some colour and letter combinations. There are few white grapes with names starting with an 'N' and most of them are not exactly mainstream, which makes this find all the more satisfying.
Week N (2015) Markus Altenberger, Neuberger Reserve 2013. Newcomer Wines £15.90.
I have twice before found my wine of the week at Newcomer Wines, the wine store in a shipping container at the trendy Shoreditch Boxpark that specialises in wines from Austria. The first two were very good.
This is made by Markus Altenberger in his family winery in the village of Jois that can be found in the East Austrian state of Burgenland which describes itself as the sunny side of Austria. Jois itself can be found to the North of the large inland lake the Neusiedler See, relatively close to the borders with both Slovakia and Hungary.
The Neuberger grape is is a crossing between Roter Veltliner (surprisingly, no relation to the fashionable Gruner Veltliner which is Austria's most widely planted) and Sylvaner. It is an early ripening variety and this gives it the chance to develop relatively high must weight, or sugar content if you would prefer me to be patronising, compared to its parents.
This is the first Neuburger I have tasted, I think, and I was offered the opportunity to spend another £10 to try 'a really top end' version, but I thought it sensible to start at a price point that should provide the producer with enough return to take care and do a good job.
The producer's own notes refer to a sallty finish and after my second taste (glass) I was beginning to understand what they mean. It is certainly dry and quite rich, underpinned with good acidity and a noticeable influence of the seven months it had spent in 500 litre barrels.
The senior member of my tasting panel told me that it cleansed her palate efficiently after she had demolished the smoky bacon quiche that the management had provided by way of a light luncheon. I would agree that it has that ability, but for me it is a little 'austere' (popular word, these days) and for that reason alone unlikely to become a regular purchase. I did enjoy it and it is different from so many of the indentikit wines that frequently fall into the shopping trolley and, therefore, I will keep it in mind for the right occasion.
I have twice before found my wine of the week at Newcomer Wines, the wine store in a shipping container at the trendy Shoreditch Boxpark that specialises in wines from Austria. The first two were very good.
This is made by Markus Altenberger in his family winery in the village of Jois that can be found in the East Austrian state of Burgenland which describes itself as the sunny side of Austria. Jois itself can be found to the North of the large inland lake the Neusiedler See, relatively close to the borders with both Slovakia and Hungary.
The Neuberger grape is is a crossing between Roter Veltliner (surprisingly, no relation to the fashionable Gruner Veltliner which is Austria's most widely planted) and Sylvaner. It is an early ripening variety and this gives it the chance to develop relatively high must weight, or sugar content if you would prefer me to be patronising, compared to its parents.
This is the first Neuburger I have tasted, I think, and I was offered the opportunity to spend another £10 to try 'a really top end' version, but I thought it sensible to start at a price point that should provide the producer with enough return to take care and do a good job.
The producer's own notes refer to a sallty finish and after my second taste (glass) I was beginning to understand what they mean. It is certainly dry and quite rich, underpinned with good acidity and a noticeable influence of the seven months it had spent in 500 litre barrels.
The senior member of my tasting panel told me that it cleansed her palate efficiently after she had demolished the smoky bacon quiche that the management had provided by way of a light luncheon. I would agree that it has that ability, but for me it is a little 'austere' (popular word, these days) and for that reason alone unlikely to become a regular purchase. I did enjoy it and it is different from so many of the indentikit wines that frequently fall into the shopping trolley and, therefore, I will keep it in mind for the right occasion.
No comments:
Post a Comment