Pertaringa 2017 Grüner Veltliner

Whether Pertaringa exists in its former name, I cannot be sure but I do think it is now known as Bec Hardy Wines. Bec is a sixth generation winemaker of the very well known and highly respected Hardy family. So finding this may be a challenge and I am struggling to find any Adelaide Hills Grüner Veltliner on their site.

That won't detract from me talking about it as I happened to have a few bottles I unpacked in the last move and the onset of spring and warm days has led me to opening a chilled bottle of this very good wine.

Grüner Veltliner is mostly grown in Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, with other smaller parcels across Eastern Europe. In Australia it seems to flourish in the Adelaide Hills region, and all up there are around 60 GV producers across South Australia, Victoria, Tassie and NSW, with the very first Grüner being made by Chris Carpenter in the Canberra region.

Now with its own Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show category, Grüner Veltliner is continually evolving into one of the wines the cool kids want to drink. Wine lists in good restaurants carry both Austrian and Australian versions of this and I'd be all over a minimal intervention or natural version of it. A little like Pinot Noir, GruVee (Groovy) as I shall now refer to it, has extremes. Light bright, and highly tart and acidic versions sit alongside bigger semillon like wines with much richer and highly textural styles.

The 2017 Pertaringa Gruvee is more on the light side, but four years in bottle and resting, it has developed somewhat from the last tasting. It is the three P's - pear, peach and pepper but there are also accentuated notes of celery, lemon zest and honeysuckle. Citrus flowers and lemon peel make their appearance on the palate, as does a load more of the stone fruit. It's very complex, more complex than we remember, but the acidity is still vibrant and intensity of the fruit remains. But she's a tad more mature, with more herbaceous and floral notes among all that zippiness.

The finish is very lean and long with some cheeky minerality and just a hint more of white pepper. The lovely acidic grip on the inside of the cheeks is slightly less than it was but it is still a ripping bottle of wine. Given we can't find any at Bec Hardy, have a look for Hahndorf Hill or Delatite in Victoria's Goulburn Valley

RRP $unknown (if you find some, shoot us a note).

https://bechardy.com.au/ (the now name for Pertaringa)

SA | 2017| Adelaide Hills | 12% ABV