I opened a bottle of wine with the neighbours last night. No note I am afraid, I was not feeling up to it whilst drinking. The neighbours enjoy wine, but are not completely obsessed with it like I am. As I poured the wine I asked them what information they could extract from this label.
They were both at a complete loss. They couldn’t even name the grape variety. I am well aware that this label means that the producer is Schloss Gobelsburg, the grape Grüner Veltliner and the vineyard is named Lamm, but if knowledgeable and enthusiastic people find this label informationless it seems pretty poor to me. Obviously no one is ever going to buy this wine if they don’t understand the label.
The wine was nice enough, though, but perhaps not worth the outrageous price asked. It was nice to visit the neighbours for a drink, I was feeling pretty rotten yesterday.
Usually the bottles of Schloss Gobelsburg have a back label with lots of additional information, but I’m not sure if this applies to all overseas markets. As for the data on the front label – this is all which is legally required and usually it’s sufficient for European countries (at least the german speaking ones).
In case you need more information, you’ll probably find it at the Gobelsburg website http://www.gobelsburg.at (disclaimer: Schloss Gobelsburg is one of our web clients).
Btw.: Schloss Gobelsburg resp. it’s owner Michael Moosbrugger has been named “Winemaker of the Year” by “Falstaff”, the leading Austrian Wine Magazine.
2004 was a very difficult year in that specific wine region (Kamptal), with lots of rain, resulting in rather high acidity. You should try the 2003 Grüner Veltliner Lamm (or the 2005 – after at least 2 or 3 years of maturation).