Michael In Austria, Part V

Austria’s Pride & Joy: These terrassen, or “terraced” vineyards famous in the Wachau are farmed by Lagler, and are located a stone’s throw from the Danube. Wachau is also the only wine region in Austria to have its own wine classification system, in addition to the national classification rules. The Vinea Wachau Nobilis Districtus divides Wachau wine into 3 qualitative categories: Steinfeder indicates basic quality and at least 10.7% alcohol, while Federspiel guarantees at least 11.5% alcohol and is roughly on par with Germany’s Kabinett. Smaragd, named after the emerald-colored lizard that dwells in the Wachau vineyards, is evidence of top-quality, exhibiting at least 12% alcohol and less than 9 grams per litre of residual sugar. Often, the Smaragd-level wines of the Wachau are amongst the best Austria has to offer.

Getting Cozy in the Wachau: I spent the night at this charming estate in the village of Spitz of the Wachau region. It is centered on the property of Weingut Lagler, where the Lagler family has lived for 200 years. Karl Lagler tends old Gruner Veltliner, Riesling and Neuberger vines and creates some of the most world-renown wines of the Wachau. Amongst all of his cru wines, the centerpiece is the great multi-vineyard Gruner Veltliner Elisabeth, of which I sampled the ‘06. Harvested by 8 women named Elisabeth, this stone fruit and wet stone-laden Gruner is dry but potent and thick, and will probably mature for 30 years. - Michael Koehler - http://www.suburbanwines.com/

It's A Tough Job

People often envy me for the environment I work in. I get to taste great wines all the time. I sniff, swish, swirl, sometimes gurgle and spit out (most of the time). Many times I sit in front of 15-25 wines that I must evaluate. Aroma, taste on palate, longevity, finish, sense of place, uniqueness, price, availability, competition, anticipated customer appeal, – all considerations whether to purchase.

Taste a wine now – wait an hour and taste it again – store it and taste it the next day. Wines are ever-changing and often surprising. Just when you think that you can identify the wine; it changes again.

One of the more interesting events at Suburban is our blind tasting. Each year we cycle through a series of wines to determine the best deals by varietal, category and price. We are supplied with between 75 – 250 wines in a category and set up several flights for evaluation. Each bottle is bagged and numbered to insure impartiality. With the ever growing small wineries making their debut it’s rare to see a wine make our top 12 a second time (there are some exceptions).
Time to go, another flight has been set up (now, where did I leave my glass!!). – Fred Horowitz – www.suburbanwines.com

WINE WITH DINNER – Sparkling Wines and Summer Meals

Most people prefer white wines with their meals during the hot summer months, or an occasional rosé - rather than a heavy red wine. That makes a lot of sense to me. But, I find it interesting that many relatively knowledgeable wine consumers still consider sparkling wine as something to enjoy only on “special occasions” when a formal toast is in order. That’s too bad, because brut (i.e., “dry”) sparkling wine is probably the most universal food wine you will ever find!

But, you say, Brut Champagne is so expensive! Yes, dry sparkling wines from the Champagne district of France are expensive – and, by the way, they are not just for toasting, but are and always will be a terrific dinner beverage! But the important point here is that there are a lot of less expensive sparkling alternatives out there to go with your summer meals. French Champagne is not the only game in town.

For example, as I’ve said before, I am partial to serving Prosecco (a light, Italian, low-alcohol sparkling wine) before dinner and as a luncheon wine, because it is so inexpensive and goes so well with light foods and appetizers. There are many to choose from in the $9 to $15 range. With dinner, there are a whole host of similarly low-priced sparkling wines from which to choose, such as Spanish Cava and bargain-priced California sparkling wines.

Of course, in the $15 to $25 range, the number of brut sparkling wines available really becomes impressive. However, as wide as the assortment becomes, it will, unfortunately, not yet include any examples of good quality French Champagne, which now costs over $30 a bottle and, hence, is out the everyday meal category altogether.

So what? From just this short introduction, you probably have already stopped thinking of sparkling wine solely as expensive “Champagne” to be used only for special occasions and, instead, are ready to consider it as an affordable, refreshing summer dinner beverage. If you have, I guarantee that you will be pleased to discover how many affordable sparkling wines there are out there to enhance your meals …. and you will be doubly pleased to see how they will turn those meals into special occasions! - Jay Roelof – www.suburbanwines.com

A Day In Paris

So, my flight was leaving at 9am from Paris to New York…I am ready, heading out the door of the hotel when my cell phone rings. It’s my wife, calling to tell me that Delta just called the house to inform her/me that the flight has been delayed until 6PM that evening. So here I am, dressed and ready to go with a full day in front of me (I had arrived the evening before so did not get an opportunity to sightsee). So immediately I hop on my laptop and go to the website for the Louvre Museum to see what the hours are. I have time for breakfast and then decide to go and see the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo (among other treasures).

After breakfast, I head down to the concierge and ask for walking directions to the Louvre. I make the mistake of mispronouncing the word “Louvre” (I pronounced it “loov”). The concierge stares at me blankly and tells me he does not understand what I am looking for. We clear that up, and I head on my way. For what it’s worth, the people outside of Paris are truly wonderful, friendly and gracious.

Anyway, I walk over, and the place is truly massive. It would take days, if not weeks to truly take advantage of everything that the museum has to offer, but I am on a mission and head straight for the Mona Lisa. Well, here she is. It’s funny, I have always heard that it is much smaller than one might think, but I did not find that to be true. It was surrounded by people and security and you were kept at an arms length by ropes, but everyone got a chance to see what they came to see.

Then off to the Venus de Milo, which seemed like about a 3 mile walk! I wanted to see the Eiffel tower as well, so I was short on time….more soon. – Lance Cerutti – www.suburbanwines.com

Michael In Austria, Part IV

I’m seen here with Wilma Tinnacher of South Styria’s Lackner-Tinnacher. She and her husband Fritz create dozens of different varietal wines in their state-of-the-art winery, which is seated neatly into a duct-like section of their hilltop property. They have done remarkable things with grapes like Muskateller, Grauburgunder, Roter Traminer and Morillon, and their wines were amongst the most urbane of the entire trip. A superb equilibrium of fruit, terroir and varietal character is what they exhibit, and if I were to choose my desert island Austrian wine, it would be one of their bottlings.

A view of Lackner-Tinnacher’s spaceship-like winery…..a marvel of modern European architecture. Everything from sensor lighting to massive gliding doorways make this polished , sterile facility self-contained. Even their product packaging is cutting-edge…..they have successfully adopted the Alcoa Vino Seal glass insert as a closure for all their wines, and I have to say that I’m totally sold on it. It is more expensive than cork and screwcaps, and will potentially require a recycling campaign, but it’s the purest, most functional and most elegant alternative, and is the prime candidate for the future of wine bottle closure. - Michael Koehler - www.suburbanwines.com

WINE WITH DINNER – A practical use for leftover red wine

Just as I serve wine with all of my evening meals, so do I also regularly cook with it. For example, instead of adding a few tablespoons of water to the frozen veggies I am microwaving, I substitute some leftover white wine from the refrigerator. Even when I thin out salad dressing, I do it with wine – white with cream dressings and red with ketchup-based dressings. Red or white wine, whether leftover or from a bag-in-the-box, is such a versatile cooking ingredient, that I would no more cook without it than I would without salt or pepper.

For instance, one great use of leftover red wine is to add flavor to meat dishes and help get rid of fat. Next time you are frying up some ground beef or sausage for an Italian meal, start off with olive oil, onions and garlic, add mushrooms if you like, and then dump in the meat. Fry until the meat is almost done and the onions translucent. Then add a cup or two of red wine. Bring just barely to a boil (to evaporate the alcohol and infuse the meat with wine color and flavor) and then strain everything into a large Pyrex measuring pitcher. Dump the strainer full of meat and veggies back into the pot and proceed with whatever you are making while letting the fat rise to the top of the Pyrex container.

Then use a gravy separator to get rid of the fat, which you can pour into small containers and freeze in the wintertime for the birds. If you follow this procedure when making spaghetti sauce, a stew, or a soup, you can add back all of the liquid you separated to give some added flavor to what you are preparing and you will end up serving a very tasty, but relatively low fat meal! - Jay Roelof - www.suburbanwines.com

Michael in Austria, Part III

Picture Perfect: A few hours after visiting Graz, I found myself motoring through the countryside of South Styria, a groomed and visually-striking wine region with countless vines tucked into steep hillsides. Green rolling hills, topped with manicured homes, are divided into crus planted exclusively to white varieties in Austria’s southern-most viticultural zone. The shapes of the hills are irregular with erosion, indicating that the region was once under ocean…..it is said that there is still salt and shell lime in the soils. The geological-uniqueness and intense visual breadth of South Styria are, to me, second only to that of Spain’s Priorat.


Into the Eclectic: Ever hear of a grape variety called Rotgipfler? How about a Zierfandler? Neither had I until being introduced to them by Florian Alphart, assistant to his father, the owner and winemaker at K.Alphart in Thermenregion. This family is perhaps single-handedly responsible for maintaining the status of these and other noble, indigenous varieties. The terroir and other conditions in Thermen are known to be similar to that of Burgundy, and the character shows in the wines, young and mature. Needless to say, Alphart also cultivates Chardonnay and Pinot Noir with astonishing results. I tasted through a hefty flight of ‘06s, which included all of these varieties in addition to Gruner Veltliner and Neuberger, and preferred the classiness and complexity in the local Rotgipflers and Zierfandlers to the monolithic style of the others. In this photo, Florian (22) takes me through a vineyard (July 22, ’07) that has also suffered the consequences of erratic and atypical weather patterns. He explained that 30% of the ’07 crop had already been lost due to hail damage. –Michael Koehler- www.suburbanwines.com