Recommendations on German/Austrian REDS?

Our next wine party will be in October, which means (cliches ahead) Oktoberfest! I have a good range of Rieslings and Gewurtzes, but can anyone give some recommendations about German/Austrian REDS we can try? A friend will bring beer, of course, and I will bring ringers just because I love Cabs, but....in the interest of our theme!

Wonderful Austrian red wine producers include, but are not limited to: Poeckl (Love it all), Paul Achs (Pinot Noir), Iby, Umathum (Great single vineyard Zweigelt, Blaufrankisch and Pinot Noir), Hillinger (albeit BIG wines), Pittnauer, Preisinger (Claus), Renner, Feiler-Artinger, Steininger (for affordable Zweigelt). Many people too like Glaetzer from Carnuntum. For German Spaetburgunder (though expensive) I like, Deutzerhof, August Kesseler, Adenauer, Meyer-Naekel. One of the most versatile German red wine producers is Philipp Kuhn for off-beat varieties like Sankt Laurent. All of them should be available in the U.S. (in tiny quantities) except maybe Kuhn.

Our next wine party will be in October, which means (cliches ahead) Oktoberfest! I have a good range of Rieslings and Gewurtzes, but can anyone give some recommendations about German/Austrian REDS we can try? A friend will bring beer, of course, and I will bring ringers just because I love Cabs, but....in the interest of our theme!

If you have time, you might try to get some stuff from my friend in Lodi. Check out his website: Welcome to Mokelumne Glen Vineyards. Go the section on his wines and check out his German collection. He has a Kerner, a Lemberger, a Dornfelder, and a funky, very sweet blend called Dreirebe. And I don't know what else he might have cooking. His experimental vineyard included (last time I saw him) about 27 different varieties.

He doesn't have a tasting room, but you can try his stuff over at the Lodi Wine and Visitors' Center. You can also buy it over the web. Or, time permitting, maybe you and I can go out there and visit him.

By the way, there's a picture of me in his photo gallery.

Thanks, guys. I checked out the new JV Wines in Napa today, and they had a Sankt Laurent that sounded intriguing.

Let me add to Bill's list as top producers (with their top wines in brackets): Gerhard Markowitsch, Göttlesbrunn (Rosenberg, "M1"), Gernot Heinrich, Gols (Gabarinza, Salzberg), J. Heinrich (Blaufränkisch Goldberg, Elegy, Cupido) and Gesellmann (Opus Eximium, "G"), both in Deutschkreutz, Kollwentz, Großhöflein (Cabernet Sauvignon, Steinzeiler) and Ernst Triebaumer, Rust (Blaufränkisch Marienthal).

Btw, it's Gl_a_tzer, not Gl_ae_tzer.

Brian,
Not sure of availability where you live...
but check my blog...I drink lots of German & Austrian reds....

Regards

Barry

http://barrys-wine.blogspot.com/

Austria: I like the reds from Feiler-Artinger (Bill mentioned above), I know winemonger.com has some. I've also liked Kollwentz who Michael P. mentioned. In general I personally prefer Blaufrankisch and Zweigelt to St. Laurent.

I'm sure there are good German reds, but I can't remember one that I felt was a good value at their rather steep starting price point. That probably has more to do with what is imported and distributed in NY than overall quality.