Almost all of the wines Austria exports are expensive – just like the California gubernatorial candidates she exports. But they are awfully good (no Schwarzenegger comment here) and often worth the money.
Here's a bargain entrée to the crisp, minerally, clearly defined style of dry Austrian white with the acidity and finely etched character of a top German Riesling plus the body of a good, bone-dry Alsace. Fred Loimer is a go-getting young Austrian winemaker who has built a black box of a winery – more art installation than production facility – on top of the enviably extensive deep cellars he has inherited from his family just outside the Kamptal town of Langenlois north of the Danube.
He has gathered around him a coterie of some of Austria's most determined young winemakers – some of them still virtually unknown – and could thus be compared to, say, Dominique Lafon in Meursault in his 1980s ringleader role for young Burgundians.
This particular wine is a blend of late-picked Riesling from this warm, flood-bedevilled vintage (remember all those pictures of Prague under water?) – a blend of fruit from the Seeberg and Schenkenbichl vineyards fermented completely dry so that it has the strength to stand up to a wide range of foods. I enjoyed it munching my way through salmon, crushed potatoes and sauce vierge in the London sunshine.
The great news for curious British wine drinkers is that this wine has been taken on by one of the big supermarkets, Safeway to be precise, so should in theory be relatively easy to run to ground. Safeway are asking £8.99 a bottle which is certainly not ridiculous for a wine of this quality – though I bet it is available only in their larger stores.
For stockists elsewhere see 19/08/03