Hiller Simone Grüner Veltliner I Queen & Pulkau Valley 2024

This bottle has been one of our buying team’s favorites on a personal level for many years, so we were thrilled to lock in a direct-import on the 2024 vintage – and now we’re sharing it with you all! 

Grüner Veltliner! Whether you’re already obsessed with this happy, zippy, intellectually flirtatious white – or you’re ready to have fun in new territory – boy do we have one for you! Pristine, cold winds collide with sunny autumn days in northern Austria to generate the most unbelievably fresh and aromatically intense wine that we never want to be without. In our opinion, Hiller’s Grüner remains one of the best values in the entire world of wine. 

Getting straight into it: the nose has an icy sharpness like mountain air hitting your lungs, lit up by lemon blossom and beeswax-laden honey. There is also the grounded romance of wet black sand and the racy, radiant bliss of good-natured tangerine. Then on the tongue, a salty prickle before laughing honeysuckle and lime popsicle rush in, washed over by plumeria flower. The grapefruit-burn aftermath creates a delightful hum in the mouth, while zippy acid never lets up. Assertively joyful, endlessly charming, hyper-fresh. Side note: this is a great wine for anyone who loves a classic margarita; there’s somehow common ground in the citrusy, cooling, saline goodness. 

Let’s think about where this grew. Married winemakers Simone and Hannes Hiller-Jordan cultivated the fruit on the Bohemian Massif, an ancient crystalline rock formation spanning much of northern Austria. Specifically, this comes from the Pulkau Valley in the esteemed Weinviertel. Only about 6% of Austrian vineyards are on the Massif; the thin, rocky soils are hard to farm and yields are low – so it’s more suited to special projects like this than mass production.

This “Queen” bottling is beloved – a favorite in the restaurants around the Basilica Mondsee, the famous wedding chapel from The Sound of Music. Pour this with seared white fish, sushi, lemon-butter pasta, loaded salads… and on its own, it’s joy in a bottle.