VirtuosoLife - January/February 2008 - (Page 60) TASTING NOTES ($16), from one of Austria’s few women vintners, has lively flavors of berry, cherries, and herbs. Red Blends Although Austrians generally eschew international (read: French) red varieties such as cabernet sauvignon and merlot, the Heinrich 2004 Gabarinza ($65) is a powerful, elegant blend of merlot and local varieties and is among Austria’s greatest reds. It has a core of deep cherry fruit surrounded by notes of eucalyptus and tar. All these exceptional reds hail from the region called Burgenland. Centered on Lake Neusiedler, it stretches eastward and southward from the foothills of the Alps onto the vast, warm plain that the Romans knew as Pannonia. SWEET WINES The humid climate of marshy Lake Neusiedler also encourages the production of sweet, late-harvest wines made from grapes affected by the Botrytis cinerea, or “noble rot,” fungus. The most famous is the celebrated ruster ausbruch, from the town of Rust. The term “ausbruch” refers to the “breaking out” of the botrytis-affected grape clusters, and the style falls between a beerenauslese and the sweeter trockenbeerenauslese. Made from muscat and furmint (the same grape found in neighboring Hungary’s splendid Tokaji wines), the Wenzel 2001 Ruster Ausbruch SAZ ($87) shows seamless flavors of apricot, orange, honey, and marmalade, while its searing acidity keeps it fresh on the palate. Perhaps the most adventuresome vintner in Austria is Alois Kracher Jr., who crafts a gorgeous range of varietal dessert wines; those labeled nouvelle vague (after the French film movement of the same name) are aged in oak. These wines, including the wellreviewed Alois Kracher Trockenbeerenauslese No. 7 2002 Grande Cuvée Nouvelle Vague ($59), are spectacular when matched with ripe cheeses. SPARKLING WINES When Austrians want fizz, they generally turn to beer, but sparkling wines are now 60 V I RT U O S O L I F E
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