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Baroque furniture, heavy curtains, a gramophone playing classical music.
This is how, or something like it, a stereotypical evening with Viennese aristocracy unfolds. You stand on the balcony, smoke a cigarette and gaze at the Danube. Suddenly, the record scratches, everyone turns their heads in bewilderment towards the room. And there they behold a group of people dancing in a kind of trance to obscure underground techno. Unexpected? That is the right word for wines from Muthenthaler.
After leaving Vienna against the current of the Danube, we reach the geographical wine jewel called Wachau. Now it is time to leave the Danube behind, jump off the boat and put on our hiking boots. We will hike into the Spitzer Graben.
The Muthenthaler winery is located at the end of the Spitzer Graben (and we can also say at the end of the Wachau) beneath the impressive slopes of the Bruck. Here the Danube no longer plays a role: the climate is harsh and cold even in summer, the vineyards are high and rooted in almost bare stone. This is what one would call „heroic viticulture“, woven from strength and perseverance.
Unexpected? That is the right word for wines from Muthenthaler.
In the wines of Martin Muthenthaler, one sees his almost stubborn perseverance in making them in his own style, and at the same time the strength he has inherited from the people who worked the soil before him. A perfect metaphor for this is the terraces made of stone walls. They are part of the characteristic landscape of the Spitzer Graben. Without them, it would not be possible to grow vines on these slippery hillsides. They are part of the tradition, created stone by stone as a tribute to this incredible terroir. And yet one needs one’s own endurance to make one’s way up to one’s place, whose name has been passed down orally by the older farmers over centuries.
To understand why a man does all this, one can simply taste the wines. This is the place for great Rieslings and Grüner Veltliners: the cold weather and stony soil give them a deep and well-integrated acidity, combined with some smoky aromas derived from the slate. Each vineyard is a peculiarity of this bewildering region, but all the wines have this earthy, mysterious and profound touch (which I can only associate with an ash heap or the memory of alchemical rites), which dances perfectly with a vibrant and satisfying freshness.
MY WINE NOTES
Grüner Veltliner Spitzer Graben 2018
Intense straw yellow with a very rich nose, immediately characterised by smoky notes of flint and gunpowder, followed by lychee, honeydew melon, nectarines, wisteria flowers, some herbaceous hints of pine and spices such as white pepper and caraway. On the palate, the smoky notes are confirmed, enriched by frankincense, cardamom seeds and white lilies. Long, well-balanced between a broad roundness and a spicy acidity that cleanses the finish and invites the next sip.
The intense yellow in the glass already speaks to the wine’s richness. Unexpectedly, smoky notes of gunpowder and flint emerge on the nose and reappear on the palate. It is a veil of ash that allows all other aromas to unfold: lychee and honeydew melon together with spices such as cumin and white pepper, right through to some green, balsamic notes of pine. On the palate, the ash is not overwhelming, but rather smoothing and balancing the spicy, inviting acidity of this fascinating Grüner Veltliner.
Grüner Veltliner Ried Schön 2018
Intense golden-yellow colour with an initial nose of ash and flint, which opens with green notes of birchwood, apple, orange zest and a delicate white rose. The first sip is dominated by spicy notes of white pepper, radish and liquorice root with a beautiful bitter finish of fresh almond. Long, full-bodied and with perfectly integrated acidity.
This golden-yellow wine is already subtle and sharp on the nose. Smoked notes of ash and flint are the gatekeepers of a delicate forest, where we stroll through birch trees and occasionally pause to pick one of the few apples we find along our way. The palate can only confirm the lack of fruit, in favour of an engaging sharpness of white pepper, radish, liquorice root with a concluding bitter note of fresh almonds. There is no room here for compromising juicy notes; we are walking on a rocky mountain with cool air in our lungs. This walk will take some time, but the view from the summit will be priceless.
Grüner Veltliner Vießlinger Stern 2018
Golden-yellow in appearance, it has something steadfast right after pouring, a few animalistic notes. The nose quickly transforms into refreshing notes of chalk, kumquat, cardamom, green pepper, nettle and dandelion, whilst not forgetting delicate and round apricot aromas. On the palate, one recognises the „Muthenthaler touch“ in the smoky aromas in the background, together with spicy notes of caraway, green pepper and anise. The still-present acidity hints at the long life this wine still has ahead of it. A complex Grüner Veltliner „off the beaten path“.
There are wines we love because they match our taste or because we consider them „perfect examples“ of their kind. Sometimes something unexpected impresses us, or we associate a wine with a particular moment that matters to us. And then there is that „certain something“, a quality we cannot really define. „This something“ is a good definition for Muthenthaler’s wines in general, but here it has taken me to another level. After I saw the golden-yellow colour in the glass, after I found hints of chalk, exotic citrus fruits and ordinary green that I had seen in the fields of my childhood, after I sipped the wine and smiled, after I found the smoky notes that are now a signature of this winery for me… I could not be relieved. This „something“ is far from being defined in this wine, which is definitely Grüner Veltliner, but different. There is the terroir and the winery’s philosophy, quite certainly. But there is more, and at the moment I am happy enough to call it a fascinating, satisfying foretaste of the future.
This article is illustrated with drawings by artist and interior architect Marcus Körner. The artist has undertaken the journey depicted here himself – from Vienna to the Wachau, where he now lives and works. Marcus works as an architect and designer for several wineries in the region. On 02.12.21 he will exhibit his works in Vienna and from April to September of next year at the Schiffahrtsmuseum Spitz. More information at www.quadratur.at and www.wachauzeichnung.com
Text: Jonathan Gobbi
Drawings: Marcus Körner
AD: Dimitri Taits
