My darling friend who hosted this evening did quite a bit of searching for some authentic, but still light German and Austrian fare. (Because as we all know, that is not exactly what the countries are known for when it comes to cuisine.)
Our appetizers (which included a very yummy vegetable dip combo and a cheesy bacon tart) were paired with two different white approaches. The first was the 2007 Helfrich Gewurztraminer Vin d'Alsace. Now that is a mouthful of a name. It wasn't my first Gewurz, so I knew what I was getting into as they almost sickly sweet liquid hit my lips. The aroma was floral and crisp, so it almost betrayed what would dance on your tongue. Not my favorite, but then again, I'm not a big fan of the super sweet wines. In fact, I found this one a bit cloying.
The second white we tried with our appetizers was a bit more my speed. The Lois Gruner Veltliner. This wasn't my introduction to the Austrian white. And according to many articles in Food & Wine, there's a lot of love - hate out there for this little treat. Personally, I really like the crisp, tartness of this wine and consider it a very good sip on a hot summer night. It's a good change of pace from the sweeter whites that tend to hail from this region, and one I highly recommend giving a try.
With dinner, a nice German brat and a delightful take on German potato salad (okay, not sure what's up this summer, but I've been trying a lot of variations of potato salads and enjoying them all ...) we opened our only red of the evening. As I mentioned, the area is more known for what it produced from white grapes, so we weren't sure what we were going to get with the Austrian red. If you're a fan of big, tanniny reds, the St. Laurent is not for you. This is a most easy, drinking red with the softest hit of tannins. It's strong berry taste almost hints at a tiny bit of chocolate for me. A great wine to drink at night without the need to pair with something to eat.
We ended the evening with a sweet pear tart that was the perfect pairing for our Deidesheimer Hofstuck Spatlese. Alas, I don't have a photo because I forgot my camera this time, and I could not find an image online. Which is a shame, the label was quite ornate and pretty. Normally, I'm not a huge fan of Rieslings. There are a few exceptions, and I can now add this one to the list. It was sweet, as they usually are, in fact, I would coin this one as being "sugarlicious." It was cool and thick and went very well with the ice cream and the tart. I don't know if it was a coincidence or not, but I thought it also had the same aroma as a pear, so perhaps that accounted for the wonderfully pairing.
My lesson learned, I think I'll be giving Austrian wines some more attention down the road ... and if I'm really in the mood for sweet ... hell, I might actually pick up a Riesling.
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