Austrian and German Wine Tasting at Solano Cellars

It is good to have a neighbourhood wine shop who offer tasting events.
Especially if it is a rare tasting like Austrian and German wine, I would definitely be there on time!

Three Austrian wines and four German wines.
All wines are available from Skurnik Imports.

Brundlmayer Extra Brut NV Kamptal, Austria
This was my first Austrian sparkling wine!
Made with Chardonnay, Riesling and Gruner Veltliner. Traditional method.
Fresh apple, grapefruit and biscuits. Refreshing high acid.
Bubbles are fine.

Hirsch Gruner Veltliner 2015 Kamptal, Austria
Bruised apple and decayed citrus flower.
By itself, refreshing wine. With food, there was a little bitterness (in a good way).

Nikolaihof Gruner Veltliner 2010 Wachau, Austria
Nikolaihoh is the first winery to perform biodynamic farming in Austria.
Banana, banana skin and mango. Sweet aromas of nectar.
Good wine with depth.

Muller-Catoir MC Scheurebe 2016 Pfaltz, Germany
Scheurebe is an aromatic white grape variety which is a crossing of Riesling and Silvaner.
Citrus and citrus zest. There was also some smokiness.

J & H Selbach Riesling Spatlese 2016 Saar, Germany
Ginger, cream and candied orange.
Simple and easy to drink, in a good way.

Donnhoff Kreuznacher Kabinett 2016 Nahe Germany
Orange, apricot, apple skin and petrol.
Acid was high but soft.

Hexamer Riesling Spatlese 2016 Nahe, Germany
Grapefruit skin, decayed flower and smokiness.
Acidity dominates.

It was a good experience to have Gruner Veltliner 2015 and 2010 side by side.
They were really different.
G.V. is not as popular as other varieties such as Riesling or Chardonnay, but I recently had many occasions to try G.V. and they were really good.
Variety worth exploring.