In 2006, when I was at the start of my wine career in New York City, grüner veltliner (“grooh-ner VELT-leehn-er”) was regarded as a wine cult favorite and had just started to appear on by the glass menus in fine dining restaurants and wine bars. It had yet to become mainstream, despite its vibrant citrus, star fruit and white pepper flavors, star-quality freshness and food pairing capabilities.
While the grape variety is Austria’s most prevalent white wine grape, its rise to international fame has truly accelerated in the last quarter-century in a remarkable concurrence of events that has made it available closer to home.
A few years before Austria’s white wine’s cult status, acclaimed wine importer and wine trend setter Terry Theise began bringing Austrian grüner veltliner into the country via New York City from producers such as Brundlmayer, Nigl, Hirsh and Alzinger. During this time, taste gurus and Masters of Wine Jancis Robinson and Tim Atkin pitted the energetic characteristics of grüner veltliner against Grand Cru white Burgundy wines in a blind tasting. The little-known Austrian grape won, catapulting its notoriety and exciting the palates of wine lovers in small circles. Its popularity stuck because grüner veltliner can be made in an array of styles from lean and light to rich and unctuous and every style in between.
Coincidently in 2004, a young Austrian sommelier, Aldo Sohm, moved to New York City and started working at the Austrian restaurant, Wallsé, whose wine list is currently recognized as the 2023 International Best Austrian Wine List, offering several grüner veltliner wines by the glass. After having won several “Best Sommelier in Austria” competitions, Sohm went on to compete and win “Best Sommelier in America 2007,” which allowed him to compete on the world level, garner the respect of sommeliers worldwide, land his dream job as chef sommelier at Le Bernardin, where he still manages the award-winning wine program, and open his namesake wine bar, Aldo Sohm Wine Bar. Spotlighting his love for the white wine from his home country, Sohm, along with Austrian winemaker Gerhard Kracher started making Austrian grüner veltliner in 2009. Sohm took grüner on stage with him, making four expressions of the wine under the Sohm & Kracher label. He still pours the 2022 Sohm & Kracher “Lion” from Weinviertel, Austria by the glass at his wine bar today.
Inspired by a motorcycle trip in Austria, Stephen M. Reustle, owner and winemaker at Reustle Prayer Rock Vineyards in Roseburg, Ore., planted vines in 2003, becoming among the first American winegrowers to experiment with grüner. He made the first commercial wine from the variety in the United States in 2005. About two hours north in West Salem, Lowell Ford had planted a row of grüner veltliner on his family farm in 1988. Later in 2001, his family took those cuttings and planted them at their estate, Illahe Vineyards. Their first commercial bottling was in 2007, only a year after I had been introduced to the cult varietal wine.
Meanwhile, on the east coast, grüner cultivars were being sold in small amounts in nurseries in the Finger Lakes and Massachusetts. After planting native American varieties in their vineyards at Galen Glen in the Lehigh Valley, winegrowers Galen and Sarah Troxell became inspired by a Food & Wine article in 2000. Sarah wanted to make a wine that paired well with vegetables. Galen researched vitis vinifera and determined the Austrian grape would grow in their special terroir. They planted vines in 2003, becoming the first commercial U.S. planting east of the Rocky Mountains. According to current winemaker and daughter of the Galen Glen founders, Erin, “the combination of climate, soil and vineyard practices in the Lehigh Valley creates a terroir where grüner veltliner can thrive and produce high-quality wines with distinctive flavors and aromas.” Erin acknowledges the grape’s roots, saying the climate, elevation, northern latitude and well-draining soils in her family’s vineyards are “favorable for Grüner Veltliner cultivation, as it mimics the conditions of its native Austria.” Galen Glen produces both nationally and internationally acclaimed grüner veltliner in four labels and styles – three as dry still wines and one traditional method Brut sparkling. These wines are available for direct purchase online at Galen Glen Winery or can be purchased in person at various Wegmans in Pennsylvania.
The increasing trend of growing grüner veltliner vines swiftly moved to the Finger Lakes, where in 2007, third-generation Fred Frank planted vines for the pioneering Dr. Konstantin Frank Winery. He had developed an appreciation for the varietal wine while studying in Germany. Other Finger Lakes wineries followed suit including Fulkerson Winery, Weis Vineyards and Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard & Winery. Eastern plantings of the Austrian grape started to uptick in other states such as New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia. With many Pennsylvania expressions of the wine winning awards, as well as a new study by International Journal of Wine Business Research which evaluated white wine consumer interest in the wine, there is speculation that grüner veltliner could become the official white grape of Pennsylvania
Whether from Austria or the United States, today, grüner veltliner is popping up on menus all over the country. Robin Wright, wine director at The Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York City, says grüner veltliner is one of her favorite white wines for food pairing, explaining that “it is savory, herbal and flavorful.” She pours Hirtzberger Gruner Veltliner 2022 from the Rotes Tor vineyard in the Wachau by the glass, noting that it pairs wonderfully with vegetables, “especially green vegetables like peas, asparagus, leafy greens, etc.” Jason Hoy, owner of Kabinett Wine Bar in Easton, says that grüner veltliner is “the most darn food friendly white I can imagine; the depth of chardonnay, excitement of Riesling and vivaciousness of Sauvignon Blanc neatly wrapped into one grape variety.”
In Lancaster County, more restaurants are offering grüner in their by the glass programs. You can find various producers and styles at restaurants including Gibraltar Restaurant, Railroad House Inn, McCleary's Public House and Passerine. Jen Splain, beverage director at Passerine in downtown Lancaster, pours an organic Austrian grüner veltliner by Thomas and Claudia Hareter by the glass, saying “They make wine without compromise … their hand-picked, foot stomped, organic…grüner is lively, expressive, and presents lovely lemon flavors, lemon thyme, lemon tart, along with a creamy rich yogurt mouthfeel. Together these flavors dance vibrantly across the palate.”
With so much support from winemakers, sommeliers and wine professionals alike in the past 25 years, the grüner veltliner train is running full steam ahead. Be sure to grab a glass and jump on board.
