Known more for its famous composers, (Mozart, Schubert, and Haydn come to mind) few people know that Austria boasts over 4,000 years of winemaking history and has a rich tradition of delivering complex flavors for even the most discerning palette.
That road, however, is not easily traveled, and Austria nearly fell off the wine producing stage in 1985, when it was discovered it had participated in what is historically known as the “anti-freeze” incident. That incident, which involved adding diethylene glycol for flavoring purposes, nearly crushed an industry that included some of the finest winemakers in Europe.
Yet the incident, while tragic, has assisted in the re-development of a wine industry with the strictest of standards and additionally facilitated forward thinking winemakers that utilize both organic and biodynamic growing processes. The modern result is a region producing quality product for all palettes, and doing so in an environmentally conscious way that is beginning to pay dividends in both cost and quality.
It was under this pretext that a diverse group of fifteen wine aficionados braved the sleeting weather to visit Maslow6, Manhattan’s foremost wine destination and purveyor of the world’s finest wines.
The guest of honor was host Monica Caha, Austria’s top wine expert. Monica imparted her deep knowledge and pride on Austria’s centuries old tradition, featuring not only a taste of it’s famous Gruner Veltliner grape, but a sampling of lesser known full bodied red wines one would not necessarily expect from the region of over 50,000 hectares of vineyard.
The education, tasting, and conversation resulted in a wonderful evening full of surprises and joyful ambiance. With so many unique perspectives, it certainly set the stage for the many future events Maslow6 has in its cask.
Tags: Austria, Gruner Veltliner, maslow6, Monica Caha, wine, wine education, winemaking