As I’ve said many times before, there’s often more excitement to be found in a $25 bottle of wine than in one costing triple digits. In the same way that many expensive wines are built on artifice and imagery, inexpensive bottles often hide true brilliance and authenticity behind a modest façade. 
I find this to be especially true in the classic wine regions of Austria’s Danube River Valley, and especially the vine-carpeted slopes of the Wachau. Today’s 2017 Grüner Veltliner from the tiny Maria Hick estate is a carefully etched, polished little gem—so much more wine than the typical bottle at this price point that we are, of course, compelled to shout it from the rooftops of SommSelect headquarters. Having had the pleasure of floating along the Danube and taking in its stunning vineyard panoramas, I can tell you that this wine takes me right back there. That’s what real wines of place do, and in the Wachau, where so many of the wine estates date back hundreds of years, they’re able to do it at a remarkably reasonable price. Grab some of this electric, mineral, glistening Grüner and take your summer drinking to the next level—it delivers refreshment and personality in equal measure.
As defined by the Wachau producers’ association known as the Vinea Wachau Nobilis Districtus, today’s 2017 is classified as Federspiel, the middle tier of three ripeness levels, which usually translates to a wine that reaches 11.5%-12.5% a.b.v. at bottling (this one is 12.5%). Sourced from the steeply pitched, west/northwest-facing Stiegelstal site, the wine is at once angular and fleshy—a mouthwatering push-pull of green fruits, shards of rock, wildflowers and bracing freshness. In the glass, it’s a bright yellow-gold with silver and green reflections, with an expressive nose of green apple, lime pith, white grapefruit, peach, tarragon, white pepper, and radish. These sensations are confirmed on the medium-bodied palate, which leaves a lasting impact after a wave of freshness crashes ashore and ignites the salivary response. This is ready to pop and pour right now with summer salads, seafood, or as a perfect apéritif—serve it at 45-50 degrees in all-purpose white wine stems and let the good times roll all summer long, keeping in mind that bottles like this always disappear quickly. I got to thinking about the peppery bite of watercress when I tasted this wine and found a salad recipe I think speaks directly to the flavors and textures in this wine. Give it a try—I know I will!