These comparative tastings of Austria’s top wines against international competition are getting to be rather boring.
We have already had one that showed that Grüner Veltliner could vanquish the world’s top Chardonnays and another that did the same for Austrian Riesling. and now comes a recent blind tasting of Sauvignon Blancs in which Austria – guess what – triumphs. Although New Zealand did pretty well too in the young wine category. Here’s the official Austrian comment on the result:
Austrian wines performed brilliantly at a blind tasting of 50 of the world’s best Sauvignon Blanc. Not only with the younger vintages, but among the mature wines, the winners were Austrian. Austria, and in particular Styria, was able to secure its image as producer of elite world class Sauvignon Blanc.
The German rare wine merchant Jan-Erik Paulson and Austria’s celebrity chef Reinhard Gerer hosted an exclusive tasting at the VieVinum 2006. “We would like to take advantage of the presence of international wine journalists that are here for the VieVinum with an invitation to taste international Sauvignon Blanc. The results will attract international attention,” says the wine merchant Paulson. The tasting jury comprised 53 wine journalists from 27 countries. Among the wines tasted were Cloudy Bay, Vergelegen, Ch Smith Haut Lafitte, Domaine de Chevalier, Bourgeois of Sancerre , Ch Margaux, Mount Nelson, and Didier Dagueneau.
The Burgenland vintner Andi Kollwentz was able to win the group of current vintages by a clear margin and was followed by two wines from New Zealand. Five of the first 10 Sauvignon Blancs came from Austria. The tasting of the group of mature vintages resulted in a home game for Styria. The Neumeister winery was able to edge out Smith Haut Lafitte from Bordeaux with the next five wines all coming from Styria: Erwin Sabathi, Hannes Sabathi, Tement, Polz, and Gross.
“The success of the Austrian Sauvignon Blancs in this international tasting confirms Austria’s position among the world’s elite producers of this classic variety,” states Michael Thurner, director of the Austrian Wine Marketing.
More information, including a list of the winners and the jury participants can be found under http://www.winesfromaustria.com/eaktuell/idx_paulson.html
