| Austrian Wine Tour |
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Savvy cyclists should forgo the back roads of Bordeaux and pedal instead for Austria. Just west of Vienna, road riders can wend through idyllic little town like Spitz and Krems on the 200-mile Danube Bike Trail, where the cycling is surpassed only by the viticulture. The fields along this bucolic stretch of the Danube are fill with the ascendant grape Gruner Veltliner, which pairs well with, says, a Cannondale SystemSix. Austrians have been drinking Gruner for decades, but only lately has it gained worldwide acclaim. Growers have begun limiting crop production and letting the fruit fully ripen, which unlocks the grape’s apple and spice flavors and transforms the simple, high-yield domestic white into a first-rate internationally renowned wine. In blind taste tests earlier this year run by Master of Wines Jancis Robinson, an expert on Austrian vintages, Gruner rivaled top Burgundies. Austrian-born Aldo Sohm, named America’s best sommelier by the American Sommelier Association in 2007 and curator of Michelin-rater Wallse, in NYC’s West Village, says that while last year’s crop was “very promising,” the 2005 vintages are “beautiful to drink now.” We suggest you pop the cork as you step off the bike so the wine can breathe too. Forum International Travel (foruminternational.com) run wine-and-cycling tours along the Danube Bike Trail. Sohm says you must taste Austrian wine to truly understand how good it is. Test Gruner’s legs at Wallse (wallserestaurant.com), which has one of the longest Austrian wine lists in America, with more that 20 varieties of the white. In Austria, Sohm recommends pedaling to Weingut Jamek, in Joching (jamekweingut.at), while Robinson praises the Nigi winery, in Senftenberg (weingutnigi.at), especially for its 2005 Privat. Finally, be sure to dine at Morwald Kloster Und as you cycle through Krems (moerwald.at). A top Vienna chef brings his vast wine collection to this restored Capuchin Monastery. Comments (0)
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