Do we ship to you?.
More Details
Winery
Weingut Dr. Heger
Vintage: 2011
The year 2011 was an interesting year for many northern and central European countries, as the weather was more than unpredictable in the spring and summer. However, in most countries, the climatic conditions thankfully settled down in the late summer and fall. The result of this slightly difficult year of weather in France was a set of surprisingly small yields, but overall, these yields were of a higher quality than those harvested in certain previous years. A fantastic set of wines was also made in Italy and Spain, and the Rioja wines - when released - are set to be very good indeed. Austria also had superb year in 2011, with almost fifty percent more grapes being grown and used for their distinctive Gruner Veltliner wines than in the year before. Possibly the European country which had the finest 2011, though, was Portugal, with wineries in the Douro region claiming this year to be one of the best in decades for the production of Port wine, and the bright, young Vinho Verdes wines.
In the New World, the Pacific Northwest saw some of the best weather of 2011, and Washington State and Oregon reportedly had a highly successful year, especially for the cultivation of high quality red wine grapes. Chile and Argentina had a relatively cool year, which certainly helped retain the character of many of their key grape varietals, and should make for some exciting drinking. South Africa had especially good weather for their white wine grape varietals, particularly Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, and many South African wineries are reporting 2011 as one of their best years in recent memory.
Varietal: Pinot Gris
One of the most versatile and interesting white wine grape varietals widely grown around the world is surely the Pinot Grigio. This grape comes in many different shades and colors, and unsurprisingly, it can also provide a remarkable range of flavors and aromas in the bottle. It is a varietal quite strongly influenced by both the terroir it is grown in, as well as by the expertise and intentions of the winery which is processing it. As such, many Pinot Grigio wines are relatively sweet, due to their high level of natural sugar. However, they can also be very dry for the same reasons, and in many countries they are aged and mellowed, resulting in beautiful tawny amber tones and a very rounded, full bodied character quite unlike white wines made from any other grape varietal.
Country: Germany
Much has changed over the past few decades in regards to German wine. Long gone are the days of mass produced, sickly sweet white wines which were once the chief exports of this fascinating and ancient wine producing country, and they have been replaced with something far more sophisticated. Whilst Germany continues to produce a relatively large amount of dessert wine, the wineries of the south of the country have reverted their attention to the production of drier, more elegant wines which really make the most of the fine grape varieties which flourish there. Many of the wineries dealing primarily with the excellent Riesling grapes have produced some truly exceptional dry and semi-sweet wines over the past few years, and it seems the world has finally woken up and noticed the extremely high quality of the distinctive produce coming out of Germany today.