Anna Glassman-Kaufman
Anna (she/her) is the Marketing Coordinator here at France 44. She has loved getting to learn more about cheese & wine at France 44, including earning a WSET 2 Certification in Wines. When she's not at France 44, you can find Anna gardening, seeing live music, and tending to her sourdough starter, Massimo.
Earlier this spring, I had the chance to travel through Austria’s Wachau and Burgenland regions with a group of U.S. wine retailers, hosted by Austrian Wine. Over five days, we visited nearly 20 wineries, tasted more Grüner Veltliners than I can count, and met winemakers working everywhere from small, sibling-run family farms to co-ops at modern facilities with 4D videos, and holograms (yes, for real).
And while I’ve spent years around food and fermentation, this kind of immersion in the wine world is still new to me. When I first started working at France 44, and in the weeks leading up to this trip, I was feeling pretty intimidated. Our staff knows SO MUCH about wine, it’s hard to keep up as a newbie.
But what I’ve come to realize is: wine professionals aren’t only focused on tasting notes and aromas and pairings. They’re curious about soil, pruning, fermentation vessels, climate change. It’s all about the process, the place, and THEN the final product. They’re curious about farming, land, seasonality, all the things I’M curious about as a gardener and baker and farmers market enthusiast (and yes, now also a little bit of a ‘wine person’). And I got incredibly lucky that the group I traveled with was patient, thoughtful, curious, and not pretentious at all.
Something shifted for me on this trip. Being there on the vineyards, talking to winemakers, seeing the soil, helped make things click. Some concepts just can’t be fully captured in a classroom.
Take the Wachau region.
Many vineyards there are shared among growers, yet many wines are ‘single vineyard,’ meaning all the grapes come from the same site. After a few days, I began to recognize vineyard names and taste the connection. Loibenberg, for example, is a cooler site with sandy, stony soils and steep terraces. We tasted wines from this vineyard at two different wineries and my notes were shockingly similar. The slope, the soil, the sunlight: it all matters more than I could imagine. THIS IS TERROIR, PEOPLE! I get it now.
If you care about farming and fermentation, wine travel may just be for you. You don’t need to be an expert, just open to learning by tasting. Here in Minnesota, this really resonates. Many of us grew up around farms, or at least around people who understand how soil and weather shape what we eat and drink. If you love that kind of connection to the land, visit a vineyard when you can and taste the difference the land can make.
And now, a couple notes on Austrian wine and why you should 100% be drinking it this summer:
Austrian wine country is on the eastern side of the country, surrounding Vienna. Because of the Alpine landscape in the western portion of the country, this is the only area viable for viticulture in Austria. Rolling hills, lush rivers, steep terraced vineyards, and picturesque lakes dot the landscape.
And if there’s one Austrian varietal you need to know, it’s Grüner Veltliner, a white grape grown widely across Austria (mainly in Niederösterreich) and almost nowhere else in the world. Grüner Veltliner wines are bright and fresh, super acidic, and often contain some complex peppery/spicy notes and even stone fruit flavors. Grüner Veltliner is often consumed quite young (80% of all Austrian wine is actually consumed within a year!) It’s perfect paired with herby dishes, seafood, and Asian cuisine.
Of course, the country is also well known for dry Riesling and a couple excellent red grapes: Zweigelt, St. Laurent, and Blaufrankisch, all of which are available at France 44.
And because I KNOW I’ve convinced you by now, here are some wines to try:
We visited Weingut Stadt Krems on our second day in Niederösterreich, and the winery was the 6th of the day. So we were all just about ready to fall asleep by the time we arrived. But, we were greeted by Franz-Josef Gansberger, aka ‘Goose’, who kept up our energy with his stories and jokes, poured us some incredible wines, and tested us with some blind tasting. The fact that these wines still stood out at that point in the day says a lot. We’re proud to carry a couple of their bottles here at France 44:
Stadt Krems Grüner Veltliner 2023 Kremstal - $17.99
Lime zest and green pear peel on the nose and turn into fuller, zestier flavor on the palate. Leafy pepperiness joins the fresh conference pear fruit and makes for a lovely, if very light, texture. *Find this wine on the tasting bar Saturday afternoon from 3-6!
Stadt Krems Riesling Kremstal 2023 - $19.99
If you always worry that “mineral” dry rieslings will be too austere, then this is the perfect introduction to these wines, because it has so much juicy nectarine fruit and acidity that’s lively, but already beautifully integrated. Diamond-bright finish!
Weingut Bründlmayer
Weingut Bründlmayer is located in the town of Langenlois, just northeast of Wachau. Their vineyards are situated all around the region and like most wineries in Niederösterreich, Bründlmayer focuses primarily on Grüner Veltliner & Riesling, but the wine in this photo, and the one we carry at France 44, is their amazing sparkling rosé.
Brundlmayer Brut NV - $64.99
This sparkling wine is worthy of a special occasion and perfectly representative of its region. Made from Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, and of course, Grüner Veltliner, it has nuances of white bread, brioche and stewed apricot (Wachau is known for it's apricots!) with generous fruit presence and lovely charm.
Brundlmayer Brut Rose NV - $64.99
This sparkling rosé is made with two iconic Austrian grapes: Zweigelt and St. Laurent. It's got a bit of spice but is still beautifully elegant and perfect for a summer celebration.
Weingut Umathum
Joseph Umathum is one of Austria’s most well known producers and his winery was a definite highlight of the trip. We arrived there on bikes and Joseph gave us a tour of the winery, taught us a bit about growing grapes in his vineyard, and poured us an amazing lineup of wine that helped us forget we still had 20 miles of biking ahead of us.
Umathum Rosa Burgunland 2022 - $24.99
On the palate impressions of cherries and forest berries combine with delicate tannins and a red-wine-like structure, finishing dry, deep, and characterful. Pair with light salads, fish and other seafood, hard cheeses and Austrian Speck.
