Austrian Wine has Arrived!

That was the vibe at Tribeca Rooftop as Willi Klinger  and his team from the Austrian Wine Marketing board hosted 80 winemakers representing the largest delegation of Austrian wineries ever to hit the shores of the U.S.

Gruner Veltliner stole the show as the lead varietal from Austria, but siblings Riesling and the reds Blaufrankisch, Saint Laurent and Zweigelt also shared the stage at a trade tasting in the afternoon followed by a sold-out crowd of consumers (it was SRO outside!) Food for the evening was provided by Wallsé; Gordon Ramsay at the London; Seasonal Restaurant; Aldea; KLEE; BLT Prime; 10 Downing Food & Wine; Salumeria Rosi; Telepan; Recette; 15 East Restaurant, and Grandaisy Bakery, giving guests the opportunity to taste the wines with food designed to showcase the wines.

Tables I visited included Niche Imports’ Lenz Moser, Michael Skurnik’s Brundlmayer, Winemonger’s incomparable Neumayer line which absolutely blew me away, Szigeti’s sparklers,  (that’s me tasting the sweets with Bob O’Brien of VinDivino, Erin Grace of Winebow serving the wines from Fred Loimer and Rudi Pichler and of course the wines of Vienna from the Darcy and Huber Portfolio.

As you know BAT has been helping the AWMB with online promotion for the last year or so and we were thrilled when they stepped up to the plate to become host to the European Wine Blogger’s conference to be held in Vienna next October see www.winebloggersconference.org. I’ll also be attending the American Wine Blogger’s conference which will be held in Walla Walla, WA in June. (Our European friends tend to chuckle when we say that name…sort of like I think Kartoffelpoofer just sounds funny.)