Maryland Gruner Veltliner
On Saturday November 29, 2025, we did a vertical Maryland gruner veltliner tasting with food pairings. Gruner veltliner is a white grape primarily grown in Austria, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. It is known for its high acidity, herbaceous and peppery aromas, citrus and fruits from green to stone and sometimes a little honey. Considering those properties, the menu we chose for this tasting included Viennese-style chicken schnitzel, smoked salmon and avocado sushi, fried spinach and artichoke bites, pesto burrata, kale chips, asparagus with lemon and parmesan, cucumber, guac, parmesan, goat cheese, pesto mayo and honey mustard. For the wine, we had four gruners from Antietam Creek Vineyards, Trueman Winery, Chateau Bu De and Chesapeake Manor Vineyard & Winery. We started the evening doing a Bottle Review Podcast on Antietam's so check that out! It was the highest in acidity and most similar to the varieties you get out of Austria. We got aromas of lemon, lime, yellow apple, peach and flint. The mouthfeel was a little creamy and the body was medium. It was very food-friendly and paired with everything on the menu. But we did note that the best pairings were the sushi, asparagus and burrata. Chesapeake Manor's was medium plus acidity, with flavors of melon, green apple and lemon. It paired best with the spinach artichoke bites, schnitzel and kale chips. Trueman's was the only one with some straw yellow in its appearance. The others were pale yellow. It was medium minus acid with notes of red apple, nutmeg and ginger. It paired best with the guac, goat cheese and sushi. Chateau Bu De's was the only one with some age on it. It was a 2021 where the other 3 were from 2023. Due to that, there were some tertiary notes of honey and walnut. It was medium plus acid with flavors of lemon, apple and white pepper. It paired the best with the schnitzel, asparagus and guacamole. It also loved all of the cheeses and was the only one that liked all three. Gruner veltliner has been growing in popularity all over the world and very recently also in Maryland. Get your hands on one soon and give it a taste!
