WTN: Well, this is different

Every few months, I run into this guy who works for a wine importer/distributor. We talk about our latest exciting wine experiences and on occasion he will give me a bottle of something he thinks I will enjoy. Yesterday it was a 2005 Alphart Rotgipfler, a white from Austria.
I mentioned I was planning to make a salmon risotto for dinner, and inquired if he thought the wine would pair nicely. He thought it would. However, when I opened the bottle and started out with prosciutto and cheese, I changed gears and used this wine just for our starters. So, what the heck is a rotgipfler? It was a pale straw color, lots of spice and acidity, minerals, and a sweet/tart finish. At times, it reminded me of a Sauvignon Blanc or a young Chablis. I can't think of a better wine to pair with salty imported proscuitto and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, but I will return to Plan A and open a Williams Selyem Pinot Noir with the salmon risotto.

Diane, this is what Jancis Robinson has to say about Rotgipfler in her (first edition of) The Oxford Companion to Wine:

"Rotgipfler, the marginally less noble of the two white wine grape varieties traditionally associated with GUMPOLDSKIRCHEN, the dramaticalloy full bodied, long-lived spicy white wine of the Thermenregion district of Austria. (The other is Zierfandler.) At the end of the 1980s there were about 200 ha/490 acres of Rotgipfler, which ripens late, but earlier than Zierfandler and whose wines are particularly high in extract, alcohol, and bouquet."

And a few snippets from various websites, whose accuracy I can't confirm:

# Indigenous Austrain white wine grape - one of the oldest in Austria

# When it is blended with Zierfandler it is then called Spatrot-Rotgipfler

# Means roughly red tips and refers to the bronze-colored tips of the wine's shoots

# Also called Reifler, Rotrufler

# A mutation of Schwarz Riesling (a German synonym for Pinot Meunier), says one site, but another says a cross between Traminer and Roter Veltliner. which one is right? I don't know.

Clint - thank you for the notes.

I've enjoyed Gumpoldskirchen (the name alone is a kick and reminds me of Rumpeltstiltskin) in the informal wine spots of Munich and Vienna but haven't had the two contributing grapes as solo efforts. Thanks for the notes, Diane.
Diane, how about your notes on the Williams Selyem. I have some on hand now from the last two releases but haven't opened any yet.

JC - I had intentions of opening a 2000 WS Precious Mountain, but, after tasting the risotto, I decided it really needed a white wine. We drank more of the Rotgipfler and then switched to the previous night's leftover 2003 Fombrauge. While the Bordeaux was not great with the last few forkfuls of risotto, it was decadent with some Ghirardelli Intense Dark chocolate we nibbled on after dinner.

JC - I had intentions of opening a 2000 WS Precious Mountain, but, after tasting the risotto, I decided it really needed a white wine. We drank more of the Rotgipfler and then switched to the previous night's leftover 2003 Fombrauge. While the Bordeaux was not great with the last few forkfuls of risotto, it was decadent with some Ghirardelli Intense Dark chocolate we nibbled on after dinner.

You're easily pleased, we would never brag about Ghirardelli chocolate. Now if it was Scharffenberger I would understand, that's really chocolate.

Yes, Lou, I'm easily pleased when my son, who was visiting from Berkeley, presents me with just about anything.....unless it's news of a solo trip to Africa or Indonesia as he has done in the past. This time he came bearing gifts of coffee and chocolate.

BTW, I wouldn't consider the fact that I mentioned the chocolate to be bragging, as you suggested.

Ossi Schellmann (in partnership with Fred Loimer) makes a great Spaetrot Rotgipfler from Gumpoldskirchen that is reasonably available in the USA from Vin Divino. Very cool stuff.