Жасыл Вельтлинер: Австрияның жүзімдері мен әлемдік танылуы

Variety of grape

Grüner Veltliner (Green Veltliner) ) is a white wine grape variety grown primarily in Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. The leaves of the grape vine are five lobed with bunches that are long but compact, and deep green grapes that ripen in mid late October in the Northern Hemisphere. In 2008, Grüner Veltliner plantations in Austria stood at , and it accounts for 32.6% of all vineyards in the country, almost all of it being grown in the northeast of the country. Thus, it is the most planted grape variety in Austria. Some is made into sparkling wine in the far northeast around Poysdorf. Along the Danube to the west of Vienna, in Wachau, Kremstal and Kamptal, it grows with Riesling in terraces on slopes so steep they can barely retain any soil. The result is a very pure, mineral wine capable of long aging, that stands comparison with some of the great wines of the world. In recent blind tastings organized by the Austrian Wine Marketing Board, Grüner Veltliners have beaten world class Chardonnays from the likes of Mondavi and Maison Louis Latour. Outside of Austria, Grüner Veltliner is the second most widely grown white grape variety in the Czech Republic, encompassing approximately and resulting in approximately 11% of Czech wine production. In recent years a few US wineries have started to grow and bottle Grüner Veltliner, including wineries and vineyards in Massachusetts, Blenheim Vineyards in Charlottesville, Virginia, at Hazy Mountain's Little North Mountain Vineyard in Swoope, Virginia (Shenandoah Valley AVA)), Oregon, Maryland, the North Fork of Long Island AVA and Finger Lakes AVA regions of New York State, Napa Valley, Clarksburg AVA, Monterey AVA and Santa Ynez Valley AVA in California, Ashtabula County, Ohio, Southern New Jersey's Bellview Winery, Pennsylvania, and along the Lake Michigan Shore AVA of Southwest Michigan. Gruner Veltliner is also planted in Australia, particularly in the Adelaide Hills wine region in South Australia, as well as the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, Canada. Some ampelographers (such as Hermann Goethe in his 1887 handbook of ampelography) have long assumed that Grüner Veltliner is not related to the other varieties with "Veltliner" in their name (such as Roter Veltliner), or that it is only distantly related. The other parent was later found to be an originally unnamed variety of which only a single, abandoned, very old and weakened vine was found in Sankt Georgen am Leithagebirge outside Eisenstadt in Austria. The grape is therefore referred to as St. Georgener Rebe or "St. Georgen vine". Grüner Veltliner has a reputation of being a particularly food friendly wine and is a popular offering on restaurant wine lists. It is made into wines of many different styles much is intended for drinking young in the Heuriger (bars serving new wine) of Vienna, a little is made into sparkling wine, but some is capable of long aging. The steep vineyards of the Danube (Donau) west of Vienna produce very pure, mineral Grüner Veltliners intended for laying down. Down in the plains, citrus and peach flavors are more apparent, with spicy notes of pepper and sometimes tobacco.

Grüner Veltliner has been believed to date back to Roman times, with its name being derived from Veltlin (Valtellina) in northern Italy, though ampelographers and wine historians have yet to find a link between the grape and the Italian commune. The current name appeared in a document for the first time in 1855; before that time it was known as Weißgipfler. St. Georgener Rebe was once known under the synonym Grüner Muskateller but appears to have no direct relationship to the Muscat family of grapes. In February 2011, the single surviving vine of St. Georgener Rebe, thought to be over 500 years old, was vandalized and severely cut in several places by an unknown assailant. The vine survived with the Austrian government designating the vine as a protected natural monument. Ampelographers are currently propagating cuttings of the vine for vineyard plantings and commercial cultivation.

Through its parent, Savagnin, Grüner Veltliner is a half sibling of Rotgipfler and is either a grandchild or a half sibling to Pinot noir which has a parent offspring relationship with Savagnin. The nature of this relationship is unclear since DNA profiling has not yet determined between Pinot and Savagnin which grape is the parent and which grape is the offspring. While newer vineyards have been experimenting with a variety of vine training systems, in Austria Grüner Veltliner has been historically trained in the Lenz Moser style developed in the 1920s. Known as the "high culture" or Hochkultur method because of how relatively high the vine trunk is allowed to grow, the goal is to reduce vine density by spacing the vines in wide rows that are 3.5 meters (11.5 ft) apart.

Grüner Veltliner is most closely associated with Austria where it is the most widely planted grape variety in the country, covering almost a third of all Austrian vineyards, with 17,034 hectares (42,092 acres) in cultivation in 2012. The grape is authorized in five Districtus Austriae Controllatus (DAC) regions—the Weinviertel where it is the only permitted grape variety; Leithaberg where it can be made as a varietal or blended with Pinot blanc, Chardonnay and Neuburger; Traisental, Kremstal and Kamptal where it is planted with Riesling. The grape is also found in the Donauland (now known as the Wagram region) and in the Wachau region of Lower Austria. Along the Danube river warm air currents come in from the Pannonian Basin to the east and blow westward, warming the vines. This area tends to produce more full bodied wines with peach flavor notes. Other notable Oregon Growers include Chehalem Winery, Raptor Ridge Winery, and Illahe Vineyards. New York State's Finger Lakes AVA is home to some small plantings of Grüner Veltliner due to the cool climate and proximity to the glacially formed Finger Lakes which help mitigate excessive cold in the early spring and the winter. Lamoreaux Landing is one of a few notable Finger Lakes wineries that produces Grüner Veltliner. Additional American plantings of Grüner Veltliner are found in Maryland, Virginia, in the Outer Coastal Plain AVA of New Jersey and in the Lehigh Valley AVA of Pennsylvania. American Grüner Veltliners tend to be medium bodied, lightly fruity with high acidity and spice notes. In California, one of the early plantings of Grüner Veltliner was in the Diamond Mountain District AVA of Napa Valley. In 2006, the 1/3 acre planting of the grape at Von Strasser Winery in Diamond Mountain was the only recorded planting of Grüner Veltliner in the state of California. In Australia, Grüner Veltliner has seen an increase of interest and plantings which has led wine expert James Halliday to speculate that the grape may be "the next big thing" in Australian wine. One of the earliest Grüner Veltliner plantings in the country was in the Adelaide Hills wine region in the state of South Australia in 2008 by Hahndorf Hill Winery. The grape planting is part of an extensive effort of Adelaide Hills grower, chaired by Henschke's viticulturist, Prue Henschke, to make Grüner Veltliner a signature variety for the region. Here the region's large diurnal temperature variation allow the grape to build sugar levels during the warm days but maintain a balance of acidity during the cool nights. The first varietal bottling of Grüner Veltliner in Australia was released in 2009 by the Canberra winery Lark Hill followed by Hahndorf Hill in 2010. that this is not the case. In recent decades, Ms Robinson has observed that this white pepper characteristic has become less noticeable and nowadays, more often than not, is absent in many classic examples of this variety. According to wine expert Tom Stevenson, Grüner Veltliner is often lightly fruity with noticeable spice and characteristic white pepper note. Well made examples from favorable vintages can have a similarity to Chardonnay produced in Burgundy. And, like Chardonnay, the variety can be made in an overly oaky and "fat" style. Unoaked examples can exhibit a minerality similar to Riesling.