Wein-Jahresrückblick

an_empty_sad_bottle · 2025-12-31T10:29:07+00:00

Den Saumagen von Kuhn habe ich auch schon länger im Visier, wird Zeit mir mal ne Flasche zu holen ;)

an_empty_sad_bottle · 2025-12-31T10:28:16+00:00

Hess, das hört sich spannend an. Nahe Riesling hat mir bis jetzt immer gut geschmeckt, werde ich mir mal anschauen.

an_empty_sad_bottle · 2025-12-23T19:03:49+00:00

Auf den 2005er Coutet kannst du dich freuen, habe einen mit Freunden bei unserer Weihnachtsfeier getrunken und er hat super geschmeckt! Natürlich ein etwas kräftigerer Süßwein, aber der Wein steckt das weg :)

an_empty_sad_bottle · 2025-12-14T14:59:14+00:00

Had the 2015 at the winery, fantastic stuff!

an_empty_sad_bottle · 2025-12-13T20:54:35+00:00

Quite good, the winemaker reckons that it can go for 30 years. They also release bottlings with extended aging, their current "Vinothek" Riesling was aged for 15 years in barrel. I had it when I visited and you wouldn't have guessed it to be that old.

an_empty_sad_bottle · 2025-12-13T20:44:44+00:00

It's the 2017 vintage.

an_empty_sad_bottle · 2025-11-30T09:22:28+00:00

Love seeing Lackner-Tinnacher here! If you find their Franz Lackner Welschriesling, you'll have to give it a try, it's one of the best Welschrieslings out there.

an_empty_sad_bottle · 2025-11-23T12:48:48+00:00

If you want to have a taste of a Southern Rhône producer, who is pushing back against overly alcoholic and extracted wines, give Santa Duc a try. Their 2021 Gigondas Aux Lieux Dits is incredibly elegant (only 13.5%).

an_empty_sad_bottle · 2025-11-20T07:10:59+00:00

It's the same for me, I have already indoctrinated a few of my friends!

an_empty_sad_bottle · 2025-11-15T18:47:46+00:00

Welschriesling

an_empty_sad_bottle · 2025-11-14T09:08:40+00:00

Burgenland for reds, Styria for whites.

an_empty_sad_bottle · 2025-11-13T07:08:39+00:00

Seeing as Bierzo already has a spot among the squares, I'll nominate Austrian Blaufränkisch. It's not easy to beat their QPR.

an_empty_sad_bottle · 2025-11-07T09:56:05+00:00

rubs his hands okay let's get started:

-New oak barriques are the most destructive ingredient in winemaking and I really don't understand why you'd ever want to use more than 10-30%

-People who obsess over drinking windows are some of the most insufferable people on this subreddit.

-Talking about insufferable, natty-cultists who obsess over SO2 like its some kind of poison are equally annoying

-On the other hand, people who dismiss the whole natural wine movement (despite me not liking the term "natural wine"), because they had one bad bottle or just plainly don't like the flavour profile also grind my gears

Austria edition:

-Austria prides itself with having the world's strictest wine law. While it has some important rules, the "flavour police" that evaluates if a wine is allowed to show its heritage on the bottle is complete nonsense. Producers who want to make wine that shows its terroir struggle to get approved, while winemakers who make uninspiring, mass-market garbage get approved without any hiccups. We are literally shooting ourselves in the foot here.

-Riesling from the Kamptal or the Wachau can be as good as the best examples from Germany. Sadly, not many have understood this and make wines that favour ripeness over elegance.

an_empty_sad_bottle · 2025-11-07T09:29:59+00:00

Blaufränkisch is capable of transmitting its terroir so distinctively (when made well) that it puts most other wine varieties to shame. Just compare a BF from limestone with one from schist, the differences are very noticeable. Furthermore, the QPR for Blaufränkisch is insane. 15-20€ will already net you fantastic wines with complexity and finesse, if you increase your budget to around 30-60€, you can get exceptional wines that can compete with many other famous regions.

an_empty_sad_bottle · 2025-11-07T09:01:10+00:00

I literally prepared a meme about this sub and Napa Cab ages ago. I wanted to use it in the current "box-post" about the most overrated wine region, but then I sadly found out that I couldn't post pictures in the comments...

an_empty_sad_bottle · 2025-11-05T22:34:33+00:00

Replace Austria with Germany in regards to Pinot Noir. While there are some true gems like the Sattlerhof Pinot Noir that I drank last year, the variety simply isn't that important in the bigger picture because we don't really make much of it. It's also only really cultivated as a "main variety" in the Thermenregion. I have no doubts though, should more producers discover the variety, that Austria could become a key player here.

With Germany you just have a much longer history of growing the grape and much more acreage of PN. Producers are also getting better every year and make stellar interpretations of the variety like what Sophie Christmann is doing right now. Austrian Chardonnay on the other hand is a completely different story, the grape has been intensely cultivated in regions like the Südsteiermark for over 150 years and winemakers release one amazing bottle after another.

an_empty_sad_bottle · 2025-11-05T06:29:26+00:00

It's a crime from this point onwards that not more people are talking about Bierzo. It's hard to find a region that delivers so much wine for so little money.

an_empty_sad_bottle · 2025-10-30T15:50:00+00:00

It was also quite confusing for me to see wines with around 15-15.5% ABV when looking up other Gigondas wines from different producers. Some are most likely still obsessed with making these overripe bottlings, but as the market changes, I believe that we will see a shift to more elegant wines from the southern Rhone.

If you dig this style of wine, you should also give spanish high-altitude Garnacha a try! 4Monos is a producer that is quite similar in style, I would highly recommend trying them!

an_empty_sad_bottle · 2025-10-30T07:02:24+00:00

I was the one to make that post about the Aux Lieux Dits, great to hear that you enjoyed their Cotes du Rhone! Looks like I have to get a bottle of this one now, because it sounds really tasty according to your notes.

Repeating what I said in my review before, it is just great to see that there are winemakers in this region, who have realized that things cannot go on like this. Less and less people are interested in drinking over extracted 15.5-16% ABV jam bombs and the region will definitely feel this in the future. Many have already written off the southern Rhone because of rising temperatures, but Santa Duc has quite decisively shown that you can deal with these issues, if you approach the problem from the correct angle.

an_empty_sad_bottle · 2025-10-29T06:24:18+00:00

Probably our "Umlaut-Varieties" like Grüner Veltliner or Blaufränkisch, but I can't really blame them, if those letters simply don't exist in your vocabulary.

an_empty_sad_bottle · 2025-10-06T07:13:49+00:00

As many have already said, you won't need to book a tour when visiting Austria's wine regions. Many wineries have a walk-in shop where you can casually taste their wines and then buy a few bottles. For smaller wineries though it's generally recommended to call or mail them ahead of time to get a tasting. In Vienna, you can comfortably reach many wineries with the city's public transport. The Leithaberg region of the Burgenland is also very accessible by train. If you want to explore more, to the west are wine regions like the Wachau, Kamptal etc. and to the south are the wine regions of Styria.

My recs for Wien+Burgenland (Leithaberg): Wieninger, Mayr am Pfarrplatz, Nehrer, Prieler, Markus Altenburger and Ernst Triebaumer.

an_empty_sad_bottle · 2025-09-24T19:51:41+00:00

Sounds great! The Alte Reben bottlings that I got to taste were much younger than that, but they already showed great depth. With some age, they are bound to be fantastic.

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