Gruner Veltliner crops up in California

A Napa winery has harvested what it says is the first ever commercial crop of Gruner Veltliner in California.

The Von Strasser winery, based in the Diamond Mountain area of Napa, harvested the grapes earlier this month.

Although generally understood to do well in cool-climate conditions, it is not known how the Gruner Veltliner, an Austrian flagship varietal, will perform in the warmer climes of California.

Producer Rudy von Strasser, who has Austrian relatives, is not worried. When asked how it will taste he said, ‘I really do not know. In the end, the varietal flavour is more important than anything else.’

‘The world does not need another Chardonnay,’ he said.

Strasser, who mainly makes Cabernet Sauvignon, thinks he is the first to produce Gruner Veltliner commercially.

‘I have no way of proving if it is the first, but I have not seen it anywhere available commercially in California,’ von Strasser told decanter.com.

Written by Panos Kakaviatos