Wine Detail
# JD001
Donabaum Loibner Garden Gruner Veltliner Smaragd 2002, 750 ml
from Donabaum (View all)The Loibner Garden vineyard is 14 kilometers away from the town of Spitz, and is very different in climate from the vineyards there.* It is a very wide valley with influences from the warm Pannonian climate. This wine is fruity, wide, and generally ready to drink sooner than the wines from the Spitzer Point vineyard. It has a cellar potential of up to 10 years, but we have had Gruner Veltliners from the 70s and 80s which are still very very good. Very sandy and hot terroir, which shows in the wine. It is important to me to create wines which represent their terroir clearly and are a picture of where they come from. -Vintner Johann Donabaum
*we also carry his wines from the Spitz vineyard
To learn more about this grape, read our Introduction to Gruner Veltliner.
- 100 % - Gruner Veltliner (AKA Weissgipfler)
| Wine Enthusiast | 87 - “White pepper and celery leaf aromas are pure Gruner; this would be a good example to throw in a blind tasting. Peppery, minerally flavors are carried on a slightly oily mouthfeel that finishes with just a bit of heaviness.” |
| Falstaff Wine Guide | 86-88 |
| Wine & Spirits | 91 - “The 20-something Johann Donabaum (no relation to Sighardt) pulled out a concentrated Veltliner in the flood year of 2002. It’s very Gruner, from the broad, loamy scents to the lentil, snap pea and cut grass flavors; it’s also cool and crisp, with a green apple succulence. In a word: mouthwatering.” |
| Wine Plus | 89-90 - “Very floral style with honeydew melon and a dash of citrus and mango. Quite juicy, spicy and round, has fat and power, honeydew melon and pear, a lot of fun, fruity and peppery finish with notes of chervil and anise.” |
| Alcohol content | 13.3% |
|---|---|
| Bottle size (ml) | 750 ml |
| Residual Sugar | 1.7 g/l |
| Wine style | Dry |
| Cellar potential | now to 2012 |
| Closure | Cork |
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Johann Donabaum works a relatively small five-hectare family-estate in the Spitzer Graben.
The Austrian press dubbed him a “Shooting Star” (that’s Austrian for Wunderkind) a couple years ago, and this recognition has recently been confirmed by top ratings from the Wine Spectator—both for his Riesling and for Grüner Veltliner.
Donabaum’s vineyards are spread out in steeply raked sites as well as among terraced vineyards—the cool character of this corner of the Wachau allows him to produce wines that show a pronounced softness and rounded expression, always balanced by fresh acidity.
The Smaragd-level wines are voluptuous as one might expect, but Johann displays a deft hand with Federspiel as well. The delicacy of his wines emphasizes the difference in the mineral character of his individual vineyard sites—he says that he wants for each of them to paint the picture of the place where it comes from.
Johann Donabaum’s Rieslings
The south-facing Setzberg is so stony and meager of soil that many growers are tempted not to look beyond Neuburger, a variety that needs so little moisture that, according to Josef Högl, “Sometimes the dew is enough.”
The terroir is composed of Kalksilikatgneiß, which is indeed as complex as it sounds—limestone with silicates and metamorphic rock, and the resulting wines are mineral-toned and very finely textured.
In contrast, the Offenberg is planted in silex, and the wines bring forth a lovely stone-fruit component and a gorgeous spicy vivacity.
The Johann GV2005 marked the debut of Johann Donabaum’s eponymous Grüner Veltliner. Assembled from a cuvée of his single-vineyard Federspiel GVs, the Johann stands for all that we admire in the man’s wines: the perfect typicity of the grape variety exquisitely complemented with terroir.
The pricing is as striking as the modern look of the bottle: a first-class Federspiel wearing a Steinfeder pricetag.
A fine relationship of quality to price is back in fashion this year with the superb balance and expressive fruit of the 2007 vintage, coupled with a little breathing-room in the currency exchange.
The Spitzer Point Vineyard
In the Wachau, when a vineyard-name ends with the syllable “point”, it means that it lies at the bottom of a hill. From this we know that centuries of precipitation have washed rock and soil from uphill on to downhill, improving the soil and its minerality with fibers of the mountain’s primal stone.
Spitzer Point is situated where the Offenberg meets the Setzberg. Old vines up to 60 years of age produce a Grüner Veltliner that perfectly marries this deep minerality and elegance with power and complexity—this makes it, year after year, Johann Donabaum’s flagship Grüner Veltliner.
The Wachau is one of 8 "sub-areas" in Lower Austria. The other 7 are Kremstal, Kamptal, Danubelands, Traisental, Carnuntum, Weinvertel, and Thermenregion. Calling this region "lower Austria" may seem counter-intuitive to most. The four main wine regions of Austria are all in the eastern half of the country, and lower Austria is the northernmost. One generally equates "North" with "upper", but not here. The explanation given is that it has to do with altitude and not latitude. Of course, while it is at a lower altitude than Styria and Vienna, it is not as low as Burgenland. Go figure.
The Wachau is perhaps the best known of the 8 sub-regions. There are 3500 acres of vines, mostly Gr?ner Veltliner and Riesling, planted in a soil of weathered primary rock, granite and slate on the steeply terraced vineyards above and sand and loess on the slope of the hills below. The area also grows Neuburger, Gelber Muskateller, Sauvignon Blanc, M?ller-Thurgau and Chardonnay. The regional association "Vinea Wachau Nobilis Districtus" acts as a kind of DOC police for this area, labeling the wines under three classifications: Steinfeder (light, young and racy), Federspiel (elegant and with body), and Smaragd (very ripe and powerful). "Smaragd" literally means emerald, and is a reference to the color of the small lizards that run amok in the vines here. For more specifics on these classifications, see types of wines.
The Wachau's proximity to the Danube, which winds lazily past like some great fat serpent, adds to the amazing beauty of this place. In the spring the steep rising hills are a lush bright green and the apricot trees blossom madly. In the fall these hills seem almost ablaze with the turning leaves of the vineyards.
