Grüner Veltliner, Weinviertel, Austria

An aromatic, verdant and eloquent Austrian grüner from an ever-exploring project. In Ontario for the very first time, welcome the roaming wines of L’Étrangère! Extremely well travelled, brilliant sommelier-turned-winemaker, Lainie Taillefer spent 10 years between Europe and Montreal treading so many prolific vineyards, working in and orchestrating the wine lists of so many famed restaurants, her experience, wine-mind and taste buds are some of the most accomplished we’ve ever heard of. In 2020 L’Étrangère came about as a gracefully-morphing and low-intervention exploration of place that started in Segovia, Spain and has since travelled to Vipava Valley, Slovenia (2021), Mosel Valley, Germany (2023 – yet to be released) & Weinviertel, Austria in 2022 – which is how we got this bottle in front of you! ‘Ausländerin’ (meaning foreigner in German) is a blend of biodynamically tended grüner veltliner from two loamy vineyards, the first being plucked from the 40-year old vines of the Eben vineyard (picked on 10/06/22, a flower day) and the second from the Staatz vineyard (picked from 10/07/22-10/09/22, flower, leaf and fruit days). Lainie destemmed by hand three buckets of “the most perfect berries”, while the rest of the grapes were pressed, directly put into a large barrel and topped by the three buckets to sit as a cap of sorts. FUN FACT! ONLY 806 bottles were made, and they were bottled on 02/26/24, a flower day! Gruner STAMP, rustling grass, Pantone Green C, chartreuse perfume, jasmine tobacco flowers, chalky, sticky tannins, green apple slices, celery salt n’ white pepper, lime, oxidizing white pear & a subtle tropical touch, like a bowl of lychee peels on the counter. Pour alongside showing your crush your favourite nature documentary and feeding each other sushi rolls held by chopsticks in your sweaty, excitable hands.