Gruner Veltliner is, alongside its unrelated Roter version, a grape whose home is in the lovely country of Austria. We tried it once before, in 2015, as an ice wine (wein?) which was very lovely but also very sweet. That one came from Burgenland, in the grape's homeland, whereas this one has travelled all the way from New Zealand and is dry.
The grapes were grown in the Awatere Valley in the north-east of New Zealand's south island (I'm a bit disappointed I haven't managed to shoehorn the word 'west' into that sentence, so far) which has a sunny disposition during the day, accompanied by cool nights and low annual rainfall. This provides excellent conditions in which this well-travelled grape can develop it's peppery, spicy flavours to good advantage.
There is stone fruit, some tropical notes and a bit of mineral zipidity (doo-dah. That's a neoligism to me, I think) that makes the whole thing nicely balanced between easy to drink and sufficiently unusual to make it interesting.
Along with another G variety, Gewurztraminer, the usual advice is to pair it with Asian food, but my usual response is to recommend drinking it with whatever takes your fancy. I wouldn't expect it to go well with slow-cooked Ox cheeks, but it might. Having typed that I am now tempted to try.
I have only once, to date, visited New Zealand and given the country's current administration's fierce determination not to allow that country to suffer from the Covid-19 pandemic any more than they really have to, I think it is unlikely that I would be welcomed back any time soon. They have recently 'locked-down' (why don't I like that phrase?) in response to a single case of the disease being detected and so even us doubled-jabbed (that's also unappealing) geriatric wine enthusiasts are banned from entry. This is a pity. Partly because I found New Zealand to be beautiful and peaceful, especially as in the south island it is still 1975 and there's no WiFi, mobile phone network or even FM radio for large parts of it, and partly because on my previous trip I only managed one winery visit. This was to Mission, in the north island, the oldest winery in the country. It was excellent and I should like to try more.
Awatere is closer to Blenheim, in the broad and famous Marlborough region from which so many good wines are produced. Sadly, we drove through it without stopping, on the way to catch the ferry to the south-western (hoorah! I new I could do it!) tip of the north island. This is an error to be corrected at some future date. We also didn't stop to take in Don Henley in concert in Wellington, but did catch him in Hyde Park where he was the main support act (!!!) to Carole King. Also excellent.
Anyway, I digress. Buy again? Most likely.
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