The Hofer Gruner Veltliner, once again, is an astounding value. You get a liter of wine for ten bucks. It’s sealed with a bottle cap in a cool green bottle; take this to a party and it will definitely be a conversation piece. The 2006 seems a bit richer than I remember the last vintage.

The description by Terry Theise is priceless:

This wine is much better than it “needs” to be, and costs about a third what it’s worth. It has remarkable polish and sheer delight of fruit; prototypical GV, long, peppery and happy, with a creamy sort of smoothness; it’s on the market now as you read this—do you have some?

Just think about it: you’re sitting in a leafy garden on a warm summer evening with friends, just chillin’ and schmoozin’ over plates of cold-cuts, listening to the birds, glad to be alive. You’d be happy if the wine you’re sluggin’ down were merely pleasant; after all, it’s not about the wine, it’s about something larger in which wine plays a necessary part. But the moment you taste the wine . . . Hey; this is good. Suddenly life seems absolutely perfect, and you are somewhere above your body, looking at the happy faces of your friends and hearing the cheerful clamor of plates, glasses and voices. You take another sip, and rejoin the merriment.