Australian Wine from
Alternative Grape Varieties

Gruner Veltliner in Australia

Gruner Veltliner is the most common white wine variety in Austria.

It is also grown in Eastern Europe; in the Czech Republic as Veltlin or Veltlinske Zelene and Hungary as Zoldt Veltliner.

Most of the wines made from this variety in Austria are quite undistinguished and it is also is used for base wines to make the local sparkling wine Sekt. However at the top end this variety can make some rich well structured wines.

Lark Hill winery in the Canberra District Wine region has released their 2009 Gruner Veltliner, an Australian first.

Several other wineries have plantings of the variety, for example Delatite in the Upper Goulburn Region and Hahndorf Hill in the Adelaide Hills.

See this story from Marc Dobson about Gruner Veltliner in the Adelaide hills.

Marketing this new variety could be a challenge - Aussies have enough trouble pronouncing the Italian wine variety names, let alone German. Maybe we should just call it Gru-Vee - groovy, get it?

Other Veltliners

There are three other varieties with the word Veltliner in their name, but they are not closely related and all have dark skins.

Roter Veltliner is used for wine as well as table grapes. Boat O'Craigo in the Yarra Valley use it in small quantities to add body to their pinot gris
Fruhroter Veltliner is a red skinned variety used to make nouveau style white wines
Brauner Veltliner is another minor grape variety used for white wines

See De Long's Wine Grape Varietal Table for information about 184 different wine grape varieties.

Back from Gruner Veltliner to Australian Wine Varieties Index

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