Food & Gourmet Items

Item Description

Austrian reds are coming along, but whites are still the champions, particularly Gruner Veltliner and Riesling, both done dry. Gruner is characterized by good fruit at the front with lots of spice and minerality on the finish. With this case, you get Gruner three ways: sparkling, an “entry-level” wine for mid-week enjoyment and a single vineyard. The two still wines are different producers but hold constant the vintage so that you can compare what happens that is attributable to a particular vineyard.

Whites: Austrian

• Gruners
  • Steininger, Gruner Sekt, Kamptal, 2018
    • It can be harder to identify the aromas and flavors on a sparkling because of all that energy being released, but that energy is what makes sparkling such a mood setter—let the celebration begin!
  • Steininger, Gruner Veltliner, Kamptal, 2021 
    • Same producer, now still, and our top-selling white wine. Here you may experience some brighter fruit flavors and aromas—more Honeycrisp apple or even Meyer Lemon than stone fruit— along with an appealing green undercurrent of something herbal (parsley or winter savory) and a beautiful signature Gruner white pepper finish.
  • Gobelsburg, Steinsetz, Kamptal, 2021
    • Riper fruit and fuller body are immediately evident vis-à-vis the Steininger. Here fruit goes to tropical, more mango and even hinting at pineapple, less herbal, more nutty but once again a clean, spicy finish.
• Riesling
  • Tegernseerhof, Durnstein, Wachau, 2018
    • Riesling is typified by sweet aromas of stone fruit (peach and pear), white flowers (orange blossom, mock orange and jasmine) but also a lovely stony minerality to refresh your palate on the finish
  • Gemischter Satz
    • This is a style that connotes a field blend in which various varieties are planted in the same vineyard, harvested and fermented concurrently as compared to wines that are “blends” of already vinified wines with grapes harvested separately and at the best time for that varietal, and then fermented to wine separately, after which they are blended. The two included here come from very different regions, the Burgenland (Prieler) and the Wachau (Tegernseerhof), so each blends very different grapes.
  • Prieler, Gemischter Satz, Kalkterrassen, Burgenland, 2021
    • Lighter than the Tegernseerhof, fruit more apple and citrus with just a note of honey.
  • Tegernseerhof, Zwerithaler, Wachau, 2019
    • Intense, layered, rich wine that is simulataneously cerebral and hedonistic. Mango again, but also orange marmalade with a dash of something almost salty. Prepare a nice meal and let this wine sing along.

Reds: Piedmont

In the same way that Austria remains about whites, Piedmont is decidedly red (though lots of really good but overshadowed whites there as well). By all accounts, Nebbiolo is king, the grape of Barolo and Barbaresco. Even so, one can’t drink those everyday, but there are others well worth some exploration.

• Nebbiolo
  • Fogliati, Nebbiolo, Langhe, 2021
    • We were smitten by this Langhe Nebbiolo because it comes closest to any we’ve had to representing the range of aromas and flavors of an ephemeral Barolo or Barbaresco, shifting from dark cherry and raspberry fruit to peat and leather to violets and roses.
• Barbera
  • Trediberri, Barbera d’Alba, 2021
    • Along with Dolcetto and Nebbiolo, Barbera constitutes part of the Piedmontese triumvirate. Trediberri offers a simultaneously fruity (blueberry, black raspberry and plum) and savory (herbal and mineral) balance that makes this wine compelling.
• Dolcetto
  • Reva, Dolcetto d’Alba, 2021
    • Lots of fruit here, with dark cherry leading the way, but then a nice additional note of slate and cinnamon.
• Grignolino
  • Crotin 1897, San Petelu, Grignolino d’Asti, 2021
    • Lighter in body than Nebbiolo, Barbera and Dolcetto, but nonetheless concentrated aromas and flavors that show black currants, peat and a terrific minerally clean finish.
• Ruche
  • Zoppi Cristina, Ruche, Castagnole Monferrato, 2018
    • What a pretty wine! There is so much going on, but floral is the overriding note, not an unctuous broom but a beguiling “come hither.”
• Cornelin
  • Rosset, Cornalin, Valle d’Aoste, 2020
    • The Mont Blanc tunnel is not far from these far northern (north of Piedmont) vineyards. This is the earthiest of the reds, with black currant and plum fruit competing with leather and green tobacco.

Item Special Note

**For pick-up only at the VINS Nature Store. Not available for shipping. Must be 21 years or older to pick up.