Premium Zöld Veltelíni – Steigler Winery
Grüner Veltliner, Austria’s flagship variety, is known in Hungary as Zöldveltelini. It’s the most common white variety in the Sopron region. Sopron lies just across the border from Austria and shares its viticultural traditions with Burgenland. Winemaking in the Sopron region goes back to the Celts. The Romans continued, and then the Bavarian settlers kept it up. The Steigler Winery is one of the region’s newer wineries, and it is producing some exciting (and delicious) organic wines. The winery is located in the center of Sopron, and has a fascinating hundreds of years old cellar system. Steigler’s vineyards cover 21 hectares, and are located in Sopron’s best areas, including the Steiger, Frettner, and Spern Steiner vineyards. Grapes for this wine come from five-year old vines from the Steiger vineyard, which has mica slate and brown forest soil. The region’s microclimate is heavily influenced by the saline Lake Fertő, which straddles the border of Hungary and Austria. The lake brings humidity, but breezes originating from the Alps provide a moderating effect. Both the winery owner (Bálint Lőrinczy) and the winemaker (Tamás Varga) have deep roots in the region. This wine is a bright straw color, with a lovely rich texture. It was fermented in 225-liter Zemplén oak barrels, and aged for eight months on fine lees, which gives it a creamy texture. On the nose it has some spiciness, pear, quince, dried grass, herbs, grapefruit, and lime. This is a fresh and full-bodied wine, with pure flavors, a bit of salty minerality, ripe pears, quince, and green apples. It has a nice long finish, with the minerality staying with you for a bit. This is a food-friendly wine, which goes great with the regional specialty, Wiener Schnitzel. It’s also great with other fried foods.
5,790 Ft
*
In stock
Alcohol percentage | |
---|---|
Producer | |
Grape varieties | |
Vintage | |
Wine region | |
wine type | |
Winemaking | |
style profile | |
Bottle size (ml) |
*Prices shown include Hungarian VAT (27%). Final prices are calculated based on the VAT of your shipping country.
Sopron is somewhat of an outlier compared to other Hungarian wine regions. Lying just across the border from Austria, it shares its viticultural traditions with the Burgenland, the region of which it was once the capital, Ödenburg. Like the Burgenland, its main red grape variety is Kékfrankos (aka Blaufränkisch), which makes up around two-thirds of its vineyard area. Indeed, the city identifies itself so much with the variety, that it has proclaimed itself the Capital of Kékfrankos. The city itself also has an Austrian feel and is home to a kind of wine tavern called Buschenschank not found anywhere else in Hungary. These date back to the 17th century when licenses were given to citizens to serve their own wine in their homes – often in the courtyard but also in the interior in winter. Its vineyards continue towards Rust and many winemakers of Austrian or even Croatian descent.
Sopron lies in the northwest of Hungary, directly on the border with Austria. Its 1,579 hectares of vines are planted on the slopes of the Sopron and Kőszeg Hills and around Lake Fertő, as Neusiedlsee is known in Hungary, at altitudes of 150-400m above sea level.
It is basically a direct continuation of the vineyards around Rust and the Leitha Hills in Austria. Nowadays, Sopron is predominantly a red-wine producing region, where Kékfrankos rules the roost. There are also small amounts of Zweigelt and Cabernet Sauvignon, but these run a distant second and third. Despite its relatively recent fame in the region, Kékfrankos is widely considered native to Sopron; however, it is more likely of Austrian origin. Its Austrian twin is also garnering much of the praise today too, as Hungarian versions are often more austere, lean and less immediately appealing. Sopron’s cool climate and partly calcareous soils typically yield wines dominated by red berry fruit and fresh spiciness with high, dynamic acidity but elegant, restrained tannins as well as somewhat lower levels of alcohol.
The most commonly grown white variety is Zöld Veltelini (aka Grüner Veltliner), which had dominated the entire region at the beginning of the 20th century.
Founded in 2015 by Bálint Lőrinczy, Steigler is an exciting addition to the winemaking scene in the Sopron region. Just across the border from Austria, near Lake Fertő, inemaking here dates back to the Celts.
The region has a noticeably German-character, with its wines sharing some similarities to the wines of Burgenland. Winemaker Tamás Varga has 21 hectares (52 acres) of organically farmed vineyards to work with. Steigler’s vineyards are located on some of Sopron’s best slopes, including the Steiger, Frettner, and Spern Steiner. One of the important characteristics of the soil in this region is the mica slate on the surface, which is found nowhere else in Hungary. As in Burgenland, Kékfranos (Blaufränkisch) is the most important grape in Sopron. In addition to Kékfrankos, Steigler also grows Cabernet franc, Furmint, Merlot, Muscat Ottonel, Pinot noir, Syrah, Zöldveltelini (Grüner Veltliner), and Zweigelt. They are especially proud of their Furmint plantations. Furmint was a major grape in the region until the early 20th century. All of Steigler’s wines are organic.
Country | 1-3 bottles | 4-6 bottles | 7-12 bottles |
---|---|---|---|
Austria | 7,800 HUF | 8,300 HUF | 9,500 HUF |
Belgium | 10,200 HUF | 10,500 HUF | 12,200 HUF |
Bulgaria | 13,800 HUF | 14,500 HUF | 15,900 HUF |
Croatia | 10,200 HUF | 10,500 HUF | 12,200 HUF |
Czech Republic | 7,800 HUF | 8,300 HUF | 9,500 HUF |
Denmark | 13,800 HUF | 14,500 HUF | 15,900 HUF |
Estonia | 13,800 HUF | 14,500 HUF | 15,900 HUF |
Finland | 19,900 HUF | 21,200 HUF | 23,800 HUF |
France | 13,800 HUF | 14,500 HUF | 15,900 HUF |
Germany | 7,800 HUF | 8,300 HUF | 9,500 HUF |
Greece (mainland) | 19,900 HUF | 21,200 HUF | 23,800 HUF |
Hungary (outside of Budapest) | 2,500 HUF | 3,500 HUF | 4,500 HUF |
Hungary (Budapest) | 2,500 HUF | 3,500 HUF | Free delivery for orders over 20,000 HUF |
Ireland | 13,800 HUF | 14,500 HUF | 15,900 HUF |
Italy | 13,800 HUF | 14,500 HUF | 15,900 HUF |
Latvia | 13,800 HUF | 14,500 HUF | 15,900 HUF |
Lithuania | 13,800 HUF | 14,500 HUF | 15,900 HUF |
Luxembourg | 13,800 HUF | 14,500 HUF | 15,900 HUF |
Netherlands | 10,200 HUF | 10,500 HUF | 12,200 HUF |
Poland | 7,800 HUF | 8,300 HUF | 9,500 HUF |
Portugal | 19,900 HUF | 21,200 HUF | 23,800 HUF |
Romania | 10,200 HUF | 10,500 HUF | 12,200 HUF |
Slovakia | 7,800 HUF | 8,300 HUF | 9,500 HUF |
Slovenia | 10,200 HUF | 10,500 HUF | 12,200 HUF |
Spain | 19,900 HUF | 21,200 HUF | 23,800 HUF |
Sweden | 13,800 HUF | 14,500 HUF | 15,900 HUF |
UK | see instructions |
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.