The New Year brings an excitement about the chance at a new beginning, about resolutions and how things will be different this year. One resolution that is pretty easy to maintain is trying new wines. It can be anything from new grape varietals, new regions, producers you've never heard of, whatever. You might not always end up with gems, but at least you tried something new. The "Strictly Obscure" wine dinner series, starting at Cassis restaurant on Feb. 9, will be one of those rare opportunities to taste little-known wines and stretch yourself.

A great place to start in trying something new is a gruner veltliner from Austria. This country's wine-growing history dates back to Roman times. In the 18th and 19th century, Austria was blessed with a wine-loving emperor, Emperor Joseph II, who put a lot of energy and money into the wine business, working to improve the quality of the wines. In 1784, he allowed the Heuriger inns to serve their wines straight from the barrel, which revitalized the industry. The tradition of this type of inn endures to this day and is popular with tourists and locals. There are some restrictions, but the most important one is that the wine must be produced by that inn. Soon after the inns began serving the cask wines, a viticultural college was started in Klosternburg to further improve the quality of the country's wine.

Once you've decided to try an Austrian wine, gruner veltliner is the wine you reach for. It is considered Austria's native grape variety and is only grown in a few other Eastern European countries. It makes a wine that is full-bodied and dry, with ripe fruit flavors, pepper and spice. It is great with food, as an aperitif, or refreshing on a sunny day. It is a grape that easily adapts to different soil types and accounts for 36 percent of grapes planted in Austria.

Gruner veltliner is grown in the Weinviertel, northeast of Vienna, but its home is along the banks of the Danube River to the northwest of Vienna. The Danube is broken down into three smaller districts: Wachau, Kremstal and Kamptal.

The grapes grown in the Weinviertel are grown in deep clay soils. This leads to spicy, peppery wines which are intended to be drunk young and are most often consumed in Heuriger bars (wine bars). A small percentage of sparkling wine is made here.

Along the Danube River, the grapes are grown in a similar fashion to Rhein riesling in Germany. The vineyards are on slopes so steep, the soil can barely be maintained and kept from sliding down into the river. The result is mineral-driven wines, with citrus notes, peach, spice, and white pepper. Some gruner veltliners will age for decades with grace and power. The wines coming from Wachau are deep and powerful in style while the wines coming from Kremstal and Kamptal are elegant, finesse wines.

A few producers I really enjoy are Nigl, F.X. Pichler, Brundlmayer, Franz Hirtzberger and Emmerich Knoll.

A few wines I've seen around town are: