Wines of the week: Grüner Veltliner! Liters!

Where is it written that a bottle of wine must be 750ml? Well the answer, roughly, is found in U.S. law, which decreed such a measure when the government tried fitfully to convert the country to the metric system in the seventies — 750ml being just a few silly milliliters short of a “fifth” of a gallon, a booze bottle standard since Prohibition.

European producers complied, squeezing their potable content into seven-fifties. But in the last 10 or 15 years, the liter has made a modest incursion onto the bottle landscape, most notably through the persistent efforts of a small number of Austrian producers, who, in the late ‘90s, used them to introduce Grüner Veltliner to the American public cheaply and expediently. Grüner, of course, is the invigorating, herbaceous white variety indigenous to Austria, a bracing wine that can be complex or, in the case of liters, eminently glug-able.

According to Willi Klinger of the Austrian Wine Board, the presence of liters in the American market swelled during the recession of 2008: There are at least a half-dozen viable Grüner liters in the local market at present. German, Chilean and even American producers have followed Austria’s liter lead (check out the Tendu blends, California appellation wines made by Napa indie Steve Matthiasson).

All this is by way of saying that if you’re looking for a picnic wine, an outdoor wine, a verdant spring wine, a break from rosé — look no further. Gulp for gulp, inexpensive Grüner is better than just about any other white wine in its category, delivering fresh flavors, vibrant acidity, lower alcohols and best of all (volume! volume! volume!) a third of a bottle more to enjoy. Here are three you can find with relative ease on retail shelves:

2014 E&M Berger Niederösterreich Grüner Veltliner – From what’s known as Lower Austria, the Danube Lowlands, this brisk white smells of pea shoots, melon and Golden Delicious apples. The flavors are brisk and very light, with a thirst-quenching acidity and a finish that hints of delicate green spice, like chervil. About $15 at Lincoln Fine Wines, Wally’s and Domaine LA.

2015 Der Pollerhof Niederösterreich Grüner Veltliner – The Poller family has been making wine for more than 300 years, and accounts for the picture of Erwin Poller’s grandfather, Johann, on the label — the first in the family to devote himself to wine exclusively. Erwin Poller farms his vines organically, and there’s a concentration to this wine that lends a bit of gravitas, with a lemony acidity and nervy chalk-dust mineral grip that feels mouthwatering and fresh. About $14 at Woodland Hills Wine Company and Lou Wine Shop.

2014 Franz Etz Kamptal Grüner Veltliner – You can detect more warmth in fruit from the Kamptal, a warm river valley within the Niederosterreich, and this wine is a bit more forward as a result, with scents of melon and parsley. The flavors fall more toward apples and pear; there’s a pleasant mineral grip to this one that seems to close the wine like the cut of a razor. About $13 at K&L Wines, and the Wine Club, Santa Ana.