I met some remarkable winemakers and tasted some truly incredible wines during my six days in Austria. In fact, the trip itself was nearly flawless save for the fact that many of the producers were incredibly hard to find. Like Rudi Pichler (See photo below for the proof that I did, in fact, finally locate him. ) It took about three passes through Rudi's tiny village in the Wachau to find his (very) tiny sign. It didn't help that there was another winemaker named Rudolf Pichler a few streets away in the same town. (No, I didn't taste his wines).
I'd always heard that Austria was a beautiful country and my little sojourn certainly confirmed that. I want to go back as soon as possible - though with a better GPS system next time. I'll be writing about my Austrian endeavors in-depth in my next "Wine Matters" column for Food & Wine so stay tuned!
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Hi Lettie,
ReplyDeleteGlad to read you were awed by Austria. I can say the same about my recent trip there. In June I spent five days there on the Austrian Wine Marketing Board's annual wine summit. I'm a wine blogger/social media marketer working on a project for the AWMB, which is how I received an invitation to the summit.
My trip also confirmed Austria's incredible and surreal beauty. The Wachau Valley is particularly spectacular. As is Kremstal. Let's just say everywhere I looked there was another great photo opportunity.
I also tasted some truly incredible wines during my time there. I absolutely LOVED the 2008 Gelber Muskateller by Jamek, for one. I only got to taste that one during a lunch tasting and my entire table nearly begged the server to leave the bottle with us. Hirsch's 2007 Riesling was also a knock-out, which I tried at another tasting at Stift Gottweig.
Overall, it's really an amazing country, and one with a surprisingly large amount of wine producers in comparison to the population size. I hope to go back one day, but in the meantime I enjoy reading about other people's experiences and impressions, especially about the wine as it's part of what I do for work.
Looking forward to reading your piece in Food & Wine. And if you ever want to talk "Austria," please feel free to let me know.
Cheers!