A Morning With Weingut Hopler

​In this business, you meet a lot of people.  And given this funny little blog, I’d be remiss if I didn’t recall to you my friends the day we welcomed Christof Höpler and his lovely wife Louise from Weingut Höpler of Austria.

The funny thing about Austrian wines is that often consumers get Austrian and German wines confused, assuming that because of proximity perhaps, they are one in the same, and many times they believe Austrian wines to be sweet.  Uh, no.  This is definitely not the case.

Christof and Louise came by after the Cincinnati International Wine Festival, and brought with them what we’d call the Monday Morning breakfast of champions – a great cross-section of what they do – from their great white wines, Gruner Veltliner and Pinot Blanc, to one of my favorite Austrian reds, the Höpler Zweigelt 2013 (which gives you loads of Bing cherry and black pepper notes, something like a spicy Pinot Noir).

One of the real treats however was the Höpler Pinot Noir Rosenberg 2009, an amazingly complex single vineyard Pinot Noir that would hold its own against some great Premier Cru red Burgundies and single vineyard Oregon Pinot Noirs to be sure.  Plum, cherry and turned earth notes abound in the glass.  There is even a bit of truffle and mushroom duxelle going on.  And of course, we finished up with the Höpler Trockenbeerenauslese 2008, a blend of Sämling, Welshriesling and Riesling, that is honeyed apples and pears, hints of orange peel, cloves and candied apricot.  A little something for the sweet tooth in all of us.

We were honored to have the Höplers come by for a visit, and we are proud to represent their wines here in our store.  Drop in and ask about them today at either location.