2020 Piewald Grüner Veltliner Terrassen: an excellent white wine from the Austrian Wachau
The 2020 Piewald Grüner Veltliner Terrassen is a mouthwatering, rocky, juicy, tropical white wine with a spicy, green charm based on caraway and verbena that makes the wine addictive.
But what makes this white wine so unique, and why should you purchase this bottle as opposed to any of the thousands of others from Austria? After all, there are more than 15,000 hectares of vineyards in Austria where Grüner Veltliner is grown.
There is an easy solution. You won’t often find a bottle of this white wine that is so precise, pleasant, and stimulating for less than 20 euros among all the varieties.
Where is it produced?
We are in Spitz, in the beautiful Spitzer Graben valley in the Wachau, which is the center of Grüner Veltliner production in Austria. The Piewald family, who have been making wine for three generations, grow their grapes on terraces held up by heartbreakingly beautiful stone walls.
How it is produced
The vineyards are kept simple and clean, with soils made of shale and limestone, low yields, long aging times, and big temperature changes. To descend, the vines literally gnaw through the rocks. The terraces have steep slopes that categorically forbid using machinery. Everything is made by hand. Given that Spitzer Graben literally translates as “sharp ditch,” you can appreciate how challenging it is to cultivate the land and why they choose not to contaminate it with pesticides or herbicides.
The harvest is postponed to allow the last rays of the autumn sun to ripen. By giving off heat at night, the heated stones make a perfect microclimate for the white grapes. After the harvest, the wine is pressed, fermented in steel, and aged in steel all the time to keep its acidity and crystalline purity.
Organoleptic characteristics
Color: grapefruit yellow. With puffs of cumin, pepper, and cinnamon and a stunningly green verbena and ginger finish, the bouquet is sunny and mineral. The fruit is elegantly and subtly ripe, with a tendency toward green. Tropical with a citrusy finish. Kiwis like rain. Perfect, straightforward, and aromatic without ever veering into stylization
The acidity and minerality that battle and give the wine impetus and an excellent length make the palate experience pure bliss. Even though the depth isn’t exaggerated, this Gruner is meant to be explosive and fun, not too complicated.
In any case, the layers of fruity and rocky flavors are expertly articulated and spread out into a rainbow of flavors with vegetable and green tones. Plaster and pulp, celery and olive flavors, thyme and mango, and flowers and lemongrass.
In the end, it’s a great example of a rock wine from the Wachau. It’s not dry, but it’s smooth on the tongue, sharp, made with a lot of honesty, and sold at a great price.
Price
An excellent price of 18–20 euros can be paid for the acquisition of a tiny jewel of Austrian enology.
