Weingut Hirsch, 1ÖTW "Ried Gaisberg" Grüner Veltliner

In most wine books, Grüner Veltliner tends to play second fiddle to Riesling in the Austrian sections, but Johannes Hirsch thinks that is missing the point. “The grape variety is just a way to transport terroir,” he says. “One hundred years ago, you might just find the village name on the label or the vineyard and no mention of the variety; it was not so important.” It’s all about the terroir, you see, and the Ried Gaisberg vineyard marries so perfectly with Grüner that it’s hard to know where soil stops and wine begins.That soil is highly calcareous (i.e. limestone-rich) and those minerals, like lime and chalk, are translated as pure, lighting-like energy that turns the Grüner into a glass of sizzling sunshine, bursting with citrus peel and spice. Now, I’m all for simple Grüner, ideally while sitting outdoors at a Vienna café. But give it top-notch terroir and put the farming and winemaking into the hands of a master like Johannes Hirsch and it becomes something altogether different: