During a weekend in Chicago, Jean and I went out for dinner at one of our favorite Chicago restaurants, Spring, with some friends. With a fantastic dinner of assorted fish dishes, we had a couple of Austrian wines from Spring's very well thought-out list:
2008 Domäne Wachau Grüner Veltliner Federspiel "Terrassen" nose: lightly green pea, pepper palate: rich, full body, fruity, off-dry
This wine was served with our starters, which in my case was charred ahi tuna sashimi with wild mushrooms and preserved vegetables. The dish was fantastic but the wine was only a so-so match (not surprising). Interestingly, this GV had a distinct off-dry character to it which also gave it more body. I don't know what kind of year '08 is in the Wachau, but this was an unusual showing for a familiar producer.
With our main courses, we got:
2007 Knoll Riesling Federspiel Loibner nose: austere, slight petrol, limited fruit palate: crisp acidity, intense minerality, very subdued fruit
Quite the contrast to the GV, Knoll's Riesling was all about austerity and non-fruity flavors. Delicious and precise. We had chosen a sea scallop/oxtail/wild mushroom dish and a "bouillabaise" special that consisted of several fish and shellfish in a broth flavored with Spanish chorizo. I couldn't convince my dining companions to go for a lighter-bodied red (on balance, no tragedy, since the wine list wasn't overflowing with those) so we chose this wine to stand up to the flavors, which it did.
Fun night, great food, wine and company.
Mark Lipton