Let's stay with Austria's trademark grape for another session, focusing on another appealing, food-friendly white that won't cost you an arm and a leg.
Today's wine comes from the province of Burgenland on Austria's eastern border with Hungary, where the large lake Neusiedlersee attracts tourism. Plenty of wine is made here, too, and if Burgenland isn't quite as well-known in the export market as the Wachau and other regions along the Danube west of Vienna, it's not for any lack of quality in wines like this fresh GV from Weingut Höpler. Focused more on grapefruit and white pepper than the minerally whites of the Wachau, it's nevertheless a gulpable, crisp white and an excellent food companion.
Höpler 2006 Burgenland Grüner Veltliner ($13.99)Transparent straw color. Pure citric aroma, tart white grapefruit with a dash of white pepper. Fresh and fruity, a gulp of grapefruit juice, so ripe it seems almost sweet at first, but finishes crisp, clean and dry. Decent GV, good value. U.S. importer: USA Wine Imports Inc., NYC. (Feb. 22, 2008)
FOOD MATCH: Excellent match with mixed cubs of fresh fish simply sauteed with garlic and finished with a little butter and lemon juice.
VALUE: A good value at this lower-teens price.
WHEN TO DRINK: Should hold for a few years, but the plastic cork does not encourage long-term cellaring.
WEB LINK: The informtive winery Website is available in German and English. Here's a direct link to the English-language home page:
http://www.hoepler.at/en
FIND THIS WINE ONLINE:
Look for vendors and compare prices for Höpler Grüner Veltliner on Wine-Searcher.com:
http://www.wine-searcher.com/find/Hople ... g_site=WLP
