Roman and Adelheid Pfaffl 2007 Wien.1 represents the fourth edition excellent installment of Riesling-based blend from Vienna’s nearby northeastern edge. Fresh apple and lemon is joined by subtle suggestions of herbal pungency and textural creaminess from the wine’s Gruner Veltliner and Riesling components. Refreshing and pure, this will be a delight to drink over the coming year. Amazingly, these grapes were harvested already the 10th of September. But sites within the city limits of Vienna generally ripen earlier than they do anywhere to the north, or east along the Danube. Temporarily, the Provence of Ontario appears to be the only North American importer for the wines of Pfaffl, a circumstance that needs to change.

The 2004 Wien.1, which retails for six Euros locally, is a blend of Riesling with 25% each of Gruner Veltliner and Pinot Blanc, all coming from within four miles of the winery, around Stammersdorf in the city’s 21st district. The inspiration for this blend is the traditional mixed field blends of the Vienna hills and Heurigen (wine taverns). A fetching aroma of clover, apple blossom, and almond leads to a juicy, delicate but silky palate and a lilting finish of resins, herbs, flowers, and lightly toasted almonds that sends you right back for the next dance on the palate. This wine is impossible not to delight in, and bids fair to be a terrific value. Various importers including Avatar Wine Marketing, Long Island City, NY; tel. (718) 433-0077