In Wien Trinkt Mann Wein
Recently, I have read more than a few pieces about Wiener Gemischter Satz which reminded me that I’d also recently drunk some. Thanks to my very good friend from Austria who brings me interesting wines; I got to try this wine for the first time over the summer. And it was delightful. That spoiler aside, let’s talk about what Wiener Gemischter Satz is.
Wiener Gemischter Satz DAC
Without getting up too high on my horse about it, I find people avoid wines from German-speaking countries because they’re afraid of the words. Personally I find French much more difficult to deal with and feel something akin to pleasure when I massively butcher every word. German looks scary because words are long. One of my favorite parts about the German language is their ability to create incredible compound words! In fact, I thought they took the crown for that until I studied Mandarin.*
There are no compound words in this one, but there is a German lesson. My high school German teacher taught us: In Wien trinkt Mann Wein to remember that ‘ie’ is pronounced as a long ‘e’ and ‘ei’ as a long ‘i’. Wiener Gemischter Satz simply means ‘Viennese mixed grounds’. Which is exactly what the wine is.
Austria has 16 DACs (Districtus Austriae Controllatus – can’t blame German for that!). Among those, Wiener Gemischte Satz stands out as being the first (and I think only) instance in which a wine style – rather than a geographical region – has been given the status. In America we know wines like this. Mostly out of California, and most reds: field blends. For a wine to qualify for this DAC, it must:
- be a multi-varietal (white) blend
- at least three varieties must be planted in any vineyard that supplies the wine
- the different varieties must be harvested and pressed together
- no single grape may account for more than 50% of the blend and the third grape must account for at least 10%
- have a maximum ABV of 12.5%
Weingut Cobenzl Wiener Gemischter Satz, 2020
My wine came from Weingut Cobenzl located right in the Vienna Woods, high above the Danube. One of the first Austrian wineries to received a sustainable cultivation certification, Weingut Cobenzal uses only organic pest control and, since 2007, has produced its own energy.
Very pale lemon with platinum highlights in the glass. I’d actually drunk this before the explosion of posts about it happened during the summer so I wasn’t sure what to expect. But the fruity and floral aromas that greeted me were a lovely way to be introduced! If scents could have a visual representation, these were soft, like a slightly out of focus picture. White fruits and flowers with golden cherries, pear and pear blossom, and young stone fruits.
Sipping was a surprise! After that soft bouquet I would not have guessed that the wine would have such a mouth-puckering acidity! Dry, slightly effervescent and lively with similar flavors as those sensed on the nose. Lots of pear and pear blossom again joined by a splash of grapefruit. A super enjoyable wine, one that I finished far too quickly!
*My favorite Mandarin compound word has always been 公共汽車 which, despite being such a long word, means ‘bus’. But because Chinese has to adapt a very old language to constant modernizations, direct translations are not possible. If you try to translate this character by character, you get: public togetherness vapor cart. Bus!