Acting upon information received from various sources, some of them fairly sensible, I celebrated the arrival of the English asparagus season with a taste test involving friends,  a platter of the only green shoots you can rely on these days, a jug of melted salty butter and a couple of examples of grüner veltliner.

First up was Lössterrasen 2009 from Stadt Krems (just sold out, sorry); fresh, perfumed and quite delicious until it made contact with the asparagus. Our palates quickly became a battleground for an ill-tempered clash between  acid and chlorophyll neither of which was willing to surrender. An alliance was out the question.

Next, we tried the more restrained, mineral Society Exhibition bottling, also from the 2009 vintage. Its fresh, spritzy charm was much liked by all present, except its blind date, the asparagus. On the palate, they circled around each other with suspicion. There was neither instant attraction nor commitment to explore each other’s hidden depths. They escaped from each other as soon as they could, and did not exchange contact details.

Conclusion:  This delicious Austrian white is good news, indeed, versatile and decidedly “grü-v”, but not with asparagus. For the rest of the season,  I’ll stick to a nice dry muscat, thanks, or a very old, buttery and forgiving chardonnay.

What are your food matching dreams and nightmares?

Janet Wynne Evans
Specialist Wine Manager