Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 Grüner Veltliner Steiner Vineyard opens with classic scents of green herbs, white pepper, crushed stone and loads of white flower perfume with a core of kiwi-like fruit. The light-bodied palate is tensile and lively with addicting freshness and a long, floral finish. What an expressive Grüner! 254 cases were made.
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Jeb Dunnuck
All varietal and from a vineyard in the Sonoma Mountain AVA, the 2018 Grüner Veltliner Steiner Vineyard offers classy lychee and white grapefruit notes to go with a medium-bodied, juicy, elegant style on the palate. It offers balance, good acidity, plenty of texture, and a dry, clean finish that's going to allow it to shine on the dinner table with just about any type of food.
Fun to say and delightfully easy to drink, Grüner Veltliner calls Austria its homeland. While some easily quaffable Grüners come in a one-liter—a convenient size—many high caliber single vineyard bottlings can benefit from cellar aging. Somm Secret—About 75% of the world’s Grüner Veltliner comes from Austria but the variety is gaining ground in other countries, namely Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and the United States.
Defined more by altitude than geographical outline, the Sonoma Mountain appellation occupies elevations between 400 and 1,200 feet on the northern and eastern slopes of the actual Sonoma Mountain and is part of the greater Sonoma Valley appellation. The mountain reaches 2,400 feet; its hills separate the cooling winds of Petaluma Gap from the Sonoma Valley.
On a cooler western flank, Pinot noir, Chardonnay and Syrah enjoy a great deal of success. Vineyards on its warmer, eastern side, interspersed with heavily forested areas, tend to include Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, Zinfandel, and Syrah. Given its complexity of topography and mesoclimates, Sonoma Mountain excels with a wide range of grape varieties.