Hiedler Gruner Veltliner Loss

The Wine... This is a different kind of Grüner Veltliner. Maria and Ludwig Hiedler aim for earthy, concentrated white wines, wines that are less fashionable but perhaps more satisfying than the clean, reductive style currently en vogue from Austria. The wines aren’t simply fruity. They are complex, deep, round- aromatic in a more nuanced and intriguing way. They seem to be more connected to an older style of Austrian white wine, and to my palate they mesh well with Austrian cuisine. Ludwig Hiedler has a vision of how Grüner Veltliner from his vineyards should taste, and he sticks close to his idea of this correct style. To me this conviction and a little bit of stubbornness is a key to making great wine. The wines here are manifested from a point of view, and I think offer a true representation of Langlois terroir.

The Land... The main soil type at Weingut Ludwig Hiedler is loess, a form of sedimentary rock that aids their goal of bottling wines of fullness and ripe fruit. The winery works very naturally, utilizing only natural fertilizers and no herbicides or pesticides. It is important to understand that working without chemical fertilizers causes a severe reduction in yield in most instances, and therefore is a sign that the farmer is concerned enough with wine quality and ecology to take a significant financial hit.

The Farming... This is a family estate. Maria and Ludwig work 16 hectares of vines, producing on average 8,300 cases of wines, almost half of it Grüner Veltliner. The harvest at Hiedler is performed by hand, in several passes to select only optimally-ripe and undamaged fruit. Fermentation is temperature-controlled, and the wine is aged partly in stainless steel and partly in acacia casks.