{"id":506,"date":"2019-04-30T12:01:18","date_gmt":"2019-04-30T12:01:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thegrufiles.com.au\/?p=506"},"modified":"2021-03-03T06:45:03","modified_gmt":"2021-03-03T06:45:03","slug":"st-laurent-the-breaker-of-hearts-by-jack-simmonds-hahndorf-hill-brand-ambassador","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thegrufiles.com.au\/?p=506","title":{"rendered":"St. Laurent, the breaker of hearts – By Jack Simmonds, Hahndorf Hill Brand Ambassador"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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In several editions of\nthis blog I have written of our commitment to ongoing staff training and\neducation. We regularly assemble themed flights of wine designed to highlight\none variety or style to snap us out of the everyday and keep us alert to the\nbigger picture. The latest session in this program focused on the prestige red variety\nof Eastern Europe and a future darling of the Hahndorf Hill wine portfolio \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the\nrare St Laurent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although it flies\nunder the radar of most Australian drinkers, St Laurent has sat at the head of\nEastern European tables for generations. Its parentage is unclear and regularly\ndebated but Pinot Noir is recognised as an immediate relative and this is\nsomething of a double-edged sword. A well-made St Laurent can raise the work of\neven the laziest of cooks to haute cuisine, but it has also been called the\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153heartbreak grape\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for its diva-like attitude to any inconvenience whilst still\non the vine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As is often the case\nwith great loves the road to those perfectly transcendent moments is rarely\neasy. St Laurent can and has broken many viticulturists\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and vintners\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 hearts;\nshe can be fickle, callous and even cruel, but when she smiles at you all is\nforgiven and forgotten in a heartbeat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Vineyard at Weingut Johann Gisperg in the Thermenregion of Austria<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Under vine since Roman\ntimes, the Thermenregion or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Thermal Springs Region\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is just a little south of\nVienna and was named for the hot sulphurous springs peppered around the spa\ntown of Baden bei Wien. Deep deposits of famously well-draining loam, sand and\nclay dominate the north, but it is in the south where the loam gives way to\nvery coarse gravel and fossilised shell that St Laurent has made herself at\nhome. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weingut Johann Gisperg\nis a multi-generational family business in the village of Teesdorf. The winery\nis one of the proven Burgundy specialists in Austria and their commitment to\nquality over quantity has netted the family a swag of awards. Unsurprisingly,\ntheir 2015 Reserve St Laurent made an indelible impression on me in the flight\nmentioned above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Saint Laurent tasting at Hahndorf Hill<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Swirling the dark crimson\nwine in the glass put me in mind of a cardinal late for an important meeting,\nscarlet robes billowing as he hurried down some ancient corridor. Cured meat,\nwhite pepper and savoury spice slowly seeped to the nose, while rich dark\nfruits, woody spice and delicate tannin rooted me to my chair. This wine has\npresence and authority but wields it with a feather, a glance, a discreet nod.\nWhite pepper glides with black fruit, opulent tannin curtsies with delicate\nacid and the whole pageant had this writer dreaming up joints of roast venison,\ntomato-based Italian and platters of cured meats, sundried capsicum and mild\nblue cheese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Two superb Saint Laurent wines from Austria<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The wines served in\nthe training flights are always tasted blind so I was pleasantly surprised when\nit was revealed that the other sample that stood out for me was from a winery I\nhad already featured in a previous article in this very blog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We last spoke of Rosi\nSchuster when I confessed my love for the field blend style, Gemischter Satz. I\nwon\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t go over the same ground again except to say that while the white was\ndelicious, their deservedly high profile has actually been built on their reds,\nparticularly St Laurent and Blaufrankisch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Burgenland region\nshares a border and the coarse gravel and shell deposits with the Thermenregion,\nbut has a lower diurnal variation thanks to the massive Lake Neusiedl. The reds\nof this region are typically more robust and fruit driven than their neighbours\nand currently enjoy a high international profile. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2016 St Laurent\nfeatured in the flight spoke to me as if we were old friends; its richer fruit\nweight and more pronounced oak would be very welcome at the table of any\nAustralian Pinot Noir or Cab Franc drinker. At first tasting it was a little\ntight and closed, but I was careful to keep one eye on the bottle and made sure\nit came home with me; I had a suspicion there was a real treat that hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t\nquite woken up yet and I am pleased to report I was right. After another hour\nor so spring had sprung and this delicate, sophisticated and aromatic wonder\nunfurled and blossomed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

St Laurent\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s signature\nwhite pepper, charcuterie and\nblack cherry are all here but I was not expecting the tomato bush, coffee and\nfaint anise. This is a complex and layered wine that will reward the\ndisciplined drinker; come back to it over several days and it will read you\nmore chapters of its home and the obvious care put into it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Game meat such as\nduck, kangaroo or lamb with a plate of roasted mushrooms, fennel bulb and\npurple carrot will pair beautifully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the outside\nlooking in it is always difficult to see your friends in a relationship that\nyou don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think is good for them; when you hear the fights and see the\ndisappointment on their faces you just want to shake them and tell them to snap\nout of it, and they always say the same thing: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know them like I do\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153he\/she loves me, they really do\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. I think now having looked into the eyes of\nthe \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Heartbreak Grape\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she has me as well. I know she won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be good for me \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\nand I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t care.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In several editions of this blog I have written of our commitment to ongoing staff training and education. We regularly assemble themed flights of wine designed to highlight one variety or style to snap us out of the everyday and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,47,31,29,18,39,27,50,35,5,30,22,33,51,1,8],"tags":[11,54,36,9,38,21,10,25,45,52,40,41],"class_list":["post-506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adelaide-hills","category-adelaide-hills-best-cellar-door","category-adelaide-hills-gruner-veltliner","category-adelaide-hills-wine","category-adelaide-hills-wine-region","category-blaufrankisch","category-cool-climate-wine","category-dessert-wine-aelaide-hills","category-diurnal-variation-temperature","category-gruner-veltliner","category-gruner-veltliner-australia","category-hahndorf","category-st-laurent","category-sticky-wine-adelaide-hills","category-uncategorized","category-wine","tag-blaufrankisch","tag-dessert-wine-gruner-veltliner","tag-diurnal-variation-temperature-grapes","tag-gru","tag-gruner-veltliner","tag-hahndorf-hill-gruner-veltliner","tag-harvest","tag-landmark-tasting","tag-st-laurent","tag-sticky-wine-adelaide-hills","tag-zweigelt","tag-zweigelt-australia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thegrufiles.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thegrufiles.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thegrufiles.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thegrufiles.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thegrufiles.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thegrufiles.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thegrufiles.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thegrufiles.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thegrufiles.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}