Sunday, January 18, 2009

A great glass at Gramercy...


...so into the bar at Gramercy Tavern on a Saturday afternoon, drinkingtons with Ellisa Cooper:

we fell-to fizz first, as befit the occasion—

me: Domaine Carneros Brut 2005
she: Montlouis Brut from Chidaine

we then united on the Touraine Grolleau/Côt Rosé from François Pinon, a handsome faceful of peppered strawberries, CS and CF doing nice things together.

and as our nibbles arrived we both ordered glasses of something exceptionally delicious, which was:

06er Tagelsteiner Rotgipfler from Stadlmann in the Thermenregion, Austria: fresh spicy nose, followed by ohmygoodness what an extraordinarily generous flavour profile—combinations of apple and pear, canteloupe and mango put cleverly together on a skeleton of citrus... nicely sculpted minerality in a beautifully ripe and rich wine. Just totally delicious.

comes from a wine-district south of Vienna called Thermenregion, the place where the warm springs are... once was famous for a wine called Gumpoldskirchner. Gumpoldskirchen was united with Bad Vöslau in 1985 to form this Anbaugebiet.

Rotgipfler is a spontaneous crossing of Traminer with Roter Veltliner, and its name refers to the occasional red-bronze tipping on the leaves.

I had the pleasure of meeting Johann Stadlmann a couple years ago at Prowein in Düsseldorf; quality driven, certainly mindful of his chance to put this place and its oddball varieties on the world wine-map...

by the way, in a city of outstanding by-the-glass lists, Juliette Pope's selection at Gramercy is a highlight.

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