For A Summer that Sizzles, Turn to Bernhard Ott's 2020 Grüner Veltliner
Let’s be simple about this: when you drink white wine this summer, you want something that sizzles. Nothing sizzles more than Grüner Veltliner.
The master of the sizzle genre is Bernard Ott. Most of Austria’s top producers rely heavily on Riesling for their repertoire. For Ott, Riesling is just 10%. Bernard Ott is the master of Grüner Veltliner, making up 90% of his production.
This is an accident of terroir. Bernard happened to inherit vineyard sites filled with loess. Loess is formed by dust-like particles of silt that are blown about by the wind until they settle down on the ground, forming layers. It actually makes up about 10% of the Earth’s surface, including large areas of America’s Midwest and China. But in Europe’s wine country, it is rather rare. It happens to be ideal for Grüner Veltliner.
Ott’s Grüner has always sizzled. The grape produces wines so intensely mineral that you sometimes think that they are sparkling, though they are not. It’s just mineral sizzle. For years, Ott was so focused on sizzle that he made his Grüner exclusively in steel tanks, preserving every ounce of freshness possible. But in 2018 he decided he wanted more: complexity. He now gives most of his wines a little time in large Stockinger barrels. Don’t worry, they still sizzle, but now there is a depth to these wines that was missing before.
For your summer white wine drinking, there is no need to spend large sums on Grüner Veltliner.
Fill your fridge before we run out:
