How often is a wine inspired by Steve Jobs’ philosophy of “everything is about tomorrow”? Well, if you look at the new Gruner Veltliner by Markus Huber and Lenz Moser, you’ll see why they describe their wine as “Tomorrow’s wine, today!”
These two men need no introduction, and when two Austrian icons combine forces, you just know that the wine they produce will be nothing like the Gruner Veltliner we know today – and that is their entire goal. Alongside wanting to establish Gruner Veltliner as the ambassadorial grape variety of Austria, they also want to make the wine more appealing to the international market, through a bit of experimenting.
Gruner Veltliner is of course already well-known in the UK, but 90% of all the Gruner Veltliner produced still goes to the German-speaking market. To increase the uptake in the rest of the wine-drinking world, they have crafted a more gentle and delicate wine, with notes of gentle field herbs, a tinge of smokiness, with hints of apple, guava, and mango, leading to a complex and elegant wine.
Lenz and Markus know that, while promoting their own wine, they also have to champion their entire region, a lesson they take from Robert Mondavi, who always celebrated the Napa Valley alongside his own wines. This is why they are so intent on expressing the full potential of Gruner Veltliner, to add to its reputation around the world.
The duo also believe that great wines can only come from great vineyards, and they’ve put their money where their mouths are, with ecological viticulture, manual labour in the vineyards, using natural resources, and a low carbon footprint, with the goal of becoming carbon neutral in the next few years.
Grapes are grown on Markus’ 120ha vineyards in Lower Austria, predominantly in Traisental, and only the best are selected and blended together. After destemming, grapes are cold soaked for eight hours, followed by stainless steel fermentation, with the wine spending time on the lees until bottling.