Gruner Veltliner in Australia

Gruner Veltliner

Gruner Veltliner is the most common white wine grape variety in Austria, where it makes up about 30% of the national vineyard area. It is also grown in neighbouring countries of Central Europe and in Italy. See this Wine Map of Austria and Hungary.

Many of the wines made from this variety in Austria are quite undistinguished fresh and crisp wines made for consumption when young.  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, and it is these that are driving its popularity.

Hahndorf Hills Winery in Adelaide - the epicentre of Australian Gruner Veltliner

Gruner Veltliner in Australia

Until a few years ago this variety was very rare in Australia.  Lark Hill in the Canberra District were the first to produce wine from the variety in Australia in 2009.  Hahndorf Hill in the Adelaide Hills Region (2010) and Stoney Rise (2011) were quick to follow.

But the real impetus has come from Hahndorf Hill Winery in the Adelaide Hills.  They imported some new clones for Australia and have been the trail blazers of the variety.  They have made propagating material available to other vineyards and wineries throughout their region.  

Hahndorf Hill also a established a Gruner Veltliner project known as the Gruner Growers Group (GGG) to push the agenda of making the Adlaide Hills the premier Gruner region in Australia.

There are two measures of the success of these efforts.  

Since 2013 Gruner Veltliner now has its own class at the Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show.  The variety was no longer judged in the grab bag "other white varieties" class.

The second measure of success is the number of Australian wineries now producing Gruner Veltliner - over 50 at the end of 2020.  A quick scan of this list shows just how the Adelaide Hills is dominating the scene, but growers and winemakers in other regions are catching on.

It will be interesting to see if any other cool wine regions take up this variety.

The list below is of wineries using the variety.  In some cases the wineries are located in neighbouring regions outside the Adelaide Hills but in many of these cases the grapes are sourced from the Hills.

A tasting of Australian Gruner veltliner wines

• 10 Chains Pemberton
• Alpha Box and Dice McLaren Vale
• Aramis Vineyards Adelaide Hills
• Artis Adelaide Hills
• Artwine Adelaide Hills
• Atwills Wine Adelaide Hills
• Berrigan Wines Adelaide Hills
• Billy Button Alpine Valleys
• Bird in Hand Adelaide Hills
• BK Wines Adelaide Hills
• Boat O'Craigo Yarra Valley
• Boydell's Hunter Valley
• Briar Ridge Vineyard Hunter Valley
• Bright Eyes Adelaide Hills
• By Jingo Adelaide Hills
• Cape Barren Wines McLaren Vale
• Castle Rock Estate Porongurup
• Catlin Wines Adelaide Hills
• Chain of Ponds Adelaide Hills
• Chalk Hill Winery McLaren Vale
• Cloudbreak Wines Adelaide Hills
• Collector Wines Canberra
• Comyns and Co Hunter Valley
• Courabyra Wines Tumbarumba
• CRFT Adelaide Hills
• Crowe Canberra
• Delatite Winery Upper Goulburn
• Deviation Road Adelaide Hills
• Eden Hall Eden Valley
• Frankland Estate Frankland River
• Granite Hills Macedon Ranges
• Guthrie Wines Adelaide Hills
• Hahndorf Hill Adelaide Hills
• Henschke Eden Valley
• Howard Vineyard Adelaide Hills
• K1 by Geoff Hardy Adelaide Hills
• Ladbroke Grove Coonawarra
• Landhaus Estate Adelaide Hills
• Lark Hill Winery Canberra
• Linear Adelaide Hills
• Lingo Adelaide Hills
• Little Frances Beechworth
• Longleat Wines Goulburn Valley
• Longview Vineyard Adelaide Hills
• Loom McLaren Vale
• Lowboi Mount Barker
• Main and Cherry Adelaide Hills
• Mitchell Clare Valley
• Monkey Business Adelaide Hills
• Moppity Vineyards (and Cato) Hilltops
• Mordrelle Adelaide Hills
• Mr Murphy Adelaide Hills
• Mt Bera Adelaide Hills
• Nepenthe Adelaide Hills
• New Era Adelaide Hills
• Nick Spencer Wines Tumbarumba
• Nomads Garden Alpine Valleys
• Nova Vita Wines Adelaide Hills
• O'Leary Walker Clare Valley
• Ossa Southern Tasmania
• Paracombe Wines Adelaide Hills
• Petrichor Wines Southern Tasmania
• Pike and Joyce Adelaide Hills
• Pikes Clare Valley
• Precious Little Wines Adelaide Hills
• Ravensworth Wines Canberra
• Redheads Barossa Valley
• Sam Miranda Wines King Valley
• Samuels Gorge McLaren Vale
• Seppelt Grampians
• Shining Rock Vineyard Adelaide Hills
• Sinapius Northern Tasmania
• Smidge Wines Mclaren Vale
• St Ignatius Vineyard Pyrenees
• Stage Door Eden Valley
• Stefano Lubiano Southern Tasmania
• Stockman's Ridge Orange
• Stoney Rise Northern Tasmania
• The Pawn Wine Company Adelaide Hills
• Tomich Adelaide Hills
• Wangolina Mount Benson
• Word of Mouth Wines Orange
• Wren Estate Hunter Valley

Some award wining Gruner Veltliner

Hand harvested Gruner Veltliner on its way to the winery. Image courtesy Hahndorf Hill Winery

Gruner Veltliner and food

This variety is quite versatile in the number of different styles of wine it can make, from lean and crisp through to full and rich.  They can be drunk young and fresh or like Rieslings they can be aged.

The underlying structure of the wine makes for successful pairing with a number of food styles.

Try Gruner Veltliner with

• All manner of Asian cuisine  from Chinese sweet and sour pork, to Vietnamese spring rolls to a delicate Japanese tempura.
• With salads including those with the otherwise difficult to pair villains asparagus and artichokes.
• With salty charcuterie - Bratwust, Wiesswurt, sausages and smoked or cured meats of all kinds.
• Mild to medium curries or dishes flavoured with North African spices.
• Bean or lentil based stews.

For more suggestions see Evan Goldstein's Daring Pairings book

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