Wine & Spirits - Winter 2016 - 58

Anita & Hans Nittnaus

A USTRIA K REMSTAL

Salomon-Undhof

Founded: 1684
Owner/winemaker/viticulturist:
Hans Nittnaus
Acres owned: 86.5
Annual production: 18,330 cases
Estate grown: 60%
Importer: Monika Caha Selections/
Frederick Wildman and Sons, NY
Website: nittnaus.at

Hans Nittnaus

Bert Salomon

Founded: 1792
Winemaker/viticulturist:
Bert Salomon
Acres owned: 74
Annual production: 12,000 cases
Estate grown: 100%
Owners: Dr. Bert and
Gertrud Salomon
Importer: Fruit of the Vine,
Long Island City, NY
Website: salomonwines.com

Nittnaus has long been a leader in promoting local varieties, his recent
releases revealing blaufränkisch's cool-climate elegant side.

While rain made Austria's 2014 vintage challenging, you'd never know by tasting Bert Salomon's clear, complex grüner veltliners and rieslings.

Proving Pannonia: When Hans Nittnaus took this winery over from his
parents in 1986, Bordeaux varieties were all the rage. In an effort to
prove that the region's local vines were worth a closer look, he developed Pannobile, blending the ancient Roman name for the region
with "nobility." His first release, in 1990, inspired a regionwide movement; today, the name connotes a wine made 100 percent from blaufränkisch, zweigelt and/or st. laurent. Nittnaus's 2013 is a selection
of blaufränkisch and zweigelt from the best of his biodynamically
farmed vineyards, fermented without any added yeasts or enzymes
and aged in large casks. It's both elegant and robust, tart acidity
cinching the plummy fruit tight, giving the wine a cool, brisk feel
even as it carries a wealth of cocoa-dark tannins.

A Family Estate: Bert Salomon's father, Fritz, was the first grower in
Kremstal to start bottling his own wine. Back in 1932, Austria's vintners were busy building the industry into the third-largest producer
in the world, focused on bulk wine. Salomon's father wasn't interested in unfettered growth; the estate his family had purchased in
1792 was founded on vineyards the Cistercian monks had tended for
centuries. He believed his granite slopes could produce world-class
dry wines, and began shipping them as far away as the US.

Mountain Fruit: In 2004, Nittnaus started exploring the Leitha Mountains, looking for a cooler climate for blaufränkisch. His 2013 Kalk
und Schiefer is a blaufränkisch blended from parcels grown on limestone (kalk) and others grown on slate (schiefer), the main two soil
types in these mountains. The wine feels so breezy and juicy it virtually emanates joy, with a palate-whetting peppery, cedary
spice to its purple fruit. His 2013 Leithaberg takes that purple juiciness to a deeper, darker place where the slate soils
seem to reverberate in the wine's gravelly structure. And yet
it shares that same mountain freshness.
Sand & Gravel: Nittnaus's Heideboden wines are named for
the sandy gravelly flatlands around Lake Neusiedl where
they grow. The red, a blend of zweigelt, blaufränkisch
and merlot, tastes like an Austrian bistro pour-plump
and spicy, with bright acidity and gravelly tannins ready
to tangle with a skirt steak. The white version is something else entirely: Made from pinot blanc fermented
spontaneously in 300-liter barrels, the 2014 is a rich,
smoky mouthful of wine, sumptuous in its cashmere
texture and quince-like fruit, elegant in its saline, mineral line. It's ready for a multi-tiered spread of raw seafood or lobster dipped in drawn butter. -T.Q.T.

TOP-SCORING WINES

Riesling Advantages: Salomon has carried on his father's work since
the 1970s, first in marketing while his brother ran the winery, and
then, since 2002, running the winery full time. His focus is also on
the vineyards, which lie close enough to the border with Wachau they
fall within that region's UNESCO World Heritage Site. The soils on
both sides of the border are steep slopes of gneiss, granite and schist,
with less of the loess found deeper into Kremstal. That stone gives
Salomon an advantage with riesling: His are pure, firm and mineral,
even in a damp vintage like 2014. Try the 2014 Pfaffenberg, a concentrated riesling so savory and firm it feels cut from stone.
Grüner Greats: Grüner veltliner had the upper hand over
riesling in 2014, its thicker skins more resistant to humidity. Salomon's single-vineyard veltliners stand out in particular for the clarity with which they telegraph their
vineyards. Wachtberg, a loess site, broadcasts a beam of
tangy lemon flavor, salt and pepper adding palate-whetting seasoning. Von Stein, a steeply terraced vineyard of
primary rock planted 70 years ago, yields a wine with
rich, ripe fruit and a streamlined structure, held tight
by stony minerality. And then there's Lindberg, from a
vineyard between loess-rich Wachtberg and the Kögl's
urgestein and crystalline schist. The wine smells of pink
grapefruit and lemon, then sends those notes through
grüner's meatier vegetal flavors, bringing brightness
and freshness, capturing the power grüner can gain
from old vines rooted in loess over slate. -T.Q.T.

TOP-SCORING WINES

93 '13 Burgenland Leithaberg $45 (4/16)

94 '14 Kremstal Reserve Lindberg Grüner Veltliner $50 (4/16)

92 '13 Burgenland Pannobile Red $45 (4/16)

93 '14 Kremstal Reserve Pfaffenberg Riesling $60 (4/16)

92 '14 Burgenland Heideboden Pinot Blanc $20 (4/16)

92 '14 Kremstal Reserve Von Stein Grüner Veltliner $60 (4/16)

WINE & SPIRITS

BUYING GUIDE 2017

photo of Bert Salomon by Johannes Ifkovits

TOP 100 WINERIES 2016

A USTRIA B URGENLAND

http://www.nittnaus.at http://www.salomonwines.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - Winter 2016