Either way, this weekend's tasting has you covered:

Please join us this Saturday, May 16, from 12pm to 4pm, for a Grand Tasting & Sale spotlighting wines made from Austria's most well-known indigenous variety: Gr?ner Veltliner.

We'll spotlight a lineup from seven remarkable producers, including some of the best Austria has to offer. And discounts will range from 10% to 45% off the regular prices. Please email us for the entire list of our Gr?ner Veltliner sale prices.

As with other recent tastings, to ensure we have enough of these great wines on hand to accommodate all attendees, we ask that anyone who would like to taste these cuv?es please RSVP. Those of you who have recently attended any of our Grand Tastings know that it can get very busy. If you prefer a quieter scene, arrive on the early side (between noon and 1:30). 

Fans of Gr?ner know the variety is dry, crisp and often possesses an abundance of minerality, which makes it a perfect white for the summer (something to enjoy instead of a ros?, Sauvignon Blanc, Muscadet or Chardonnay). 

They also know it's famously food friendly (and pretty much the only thing that will hold up to green vegetables like asparagus and artichokes).

Accounting for nearly 30% of the country's plantings, it is Austria's most widely grown variety, and perhaps its most well-known grape on the world wine scene. 

Wines made from Gr?ner Veltliner are most often bone dry with great balanced acidity. They tend toward aromas and flavors of green fruit, Asian pears, white pepper and citrus.

Depending on the region and winemaker, however, they can develop depth and character, including richness, minerality and deeper fruit.

And that should be especially tantalizing given the level of talent in our portfolio of Austrian winemakers: 

• Franz Hirtzberger: A pillar of Austrian winemaking, Franz Hirtzberger produces some of the country's best dry white wines. Hirtzberger is fanatic in his pursuit of optimum ripeness, works meticulously in the vines, and possess an intimate knowledge of each terroir. In the cellar, he uses exclusively indigenous yeasts, ferments his wines in steel tanks, and ages them in larger, older foudres. Most importantly, Franz insists on limited time on lees and no b?tonnage in order to express best the purity and minerality of each parcel. And his wines are distinct... and truly special. 
• F.X. Pichler: Along with Franz Hirtzberger, F.X. Pichler is arguably Austria's most acclaimed winemaker. He strives to craft wines that reflect the year, the soil and the special microclimate of the Wachau region, coaxing subtle nuances out of every vineyard so they can be experienced and tasted in the multi-layered uniqueness of his dry white wines. F.X. has long since left the winemaking duties to his incredibly talented son, Lucas, so that he can tend to the vineyards. And since that passing of the torch in 1999, the estate has elevated their wines to unprecedented heights.
• Pichler-Krutzler: Elisabeth Pichler and Erich Krutzler are husband and wife from two famous Austrian winemaking families (Elisabeth is the aforementioned F.X.'s daughter) who are now producing excellent wines in their own right. All their wines are raised, harvested and bottled separately--according to the winemakers' abiding respect for nature and commitment to sustainable viticultural practices--so as to ensure the full expression of their individual, far-flung terroirs.
• Weingut Aigner: An estate with a family tradition of over 200 years of winemaking, and parcels of land so well-known for producing excellent wines that their names have been found in archives over 1,000 years old.
• Kurt Angerer: The producer of some of the most highly regarded wines in the country's Kamptal region, Angerer's understanding of and respect for terroir has an unshakable foundation: a family estate steeped in 150 years of winemaking. In a continuation of the traditional approach espoused by his predecessors, Kurt takes great care to ensure every detail of the process contributes to an optimal end product.
• Birgit Eichinger: Since her start in 1992, Birgit Eichinger has risen quickly to prominence as a producer of beautifully elegant wines from the Kamptal--a small region in northern Austria known for steep sandstone slopes and high sun exposure. Thanks to her husband Christian's skills as a builder, the estate's facilities exhibit a loving attention to detail--a trait mirrored by Birgit's approach to winemaking.
• Weingut S?llner: Run by the husband and wife team of Toni S?llner and Daniela Vigne, this family operation is wholly dedicated to sustainable, biodynamic viticture. In the hills of the Donauland, looking over the Danube valley and the Alps, just to the east of the Kamptal, the vines grow on terraces of loess, mussel-chalk, and red gravel, amidst herbs, legumes and wild flowers. The resulting wines are well-balanced and natural-tasting, with beautifully expressive minerality.

If you have any questions or would like to place an order, please call 202.362.9463 or email us.

We hope to see you this weekend!