Every year in the first week of September, I make an annual pilgrimage to Schloss Grafenegg – an eccentric baroque/Tudor Gothic mash up of a castle just a few minutes away from the village of Wagram. The event is the tasting of single vineyard wines from the Austrian Traditional Winemakers Association, otherwise known as the Österreichische Traditionsweingüter or ÖTW. For a concise summary of what this tasting and the ÖTW is all about, see my article for Pix.wine.
For the last four years, I’ve published a full set of reviews from this tasting. It’s fascinating to be able to compare each new vintage and to see how the individual wineries are developing too. This year, for the first time I’m publishing short summaries in the hope that it gives a bit more context for the tasting notes.
The event has now ballooned into a five day tasting marathon, with the wines from ÖTW members shown on the first three days, then an additional day for wines from Leithaberg (Burgenland) and Eisenberg (Südburgenland), and for the first time this year, a fifth day for single vineyard wines from Styrian producers in the STK association. So I’ll split this into three seperate summaries!
I’m often asked why I attend a tasting like this. If you’re reading this on my site, you probably know that I write mostly about natural wine – and that’s typically what I like to drink too. Even one of the event’s organisers, the redoubtable Dorli Muhr (also a winemaker in Carnuntum) asked me (I think semi-humourously) “Are you going to be bored for the next three days?”
But in truth, many of the winemakers and growers who are members of the ÖTW fit my definition of interesting artisanal wine. My top priorities are that the farming is organic or biodynamic (no synthetic products polluting the ground or the surroundings), the fermentation uses wild yeasts and if possible that the wines are unfiltered and unfined. Many of the ÖTW producers hold either organic or biodynamic certification (step forward Jurtschitsch, Geyerhof, Hirsch, Bründlmayer, Wieninger, Fred Loimer, Martin Diwald, Johannes Trapl, Walter Glatzer, Fritsch and Sepp Moser amongst others). The ÖTW has also now introduced a ruling that all of its members must refrain from using herbicides or insecticides. Most if not all of the aforementioned growers also work exclusively with wild yeasts. And fining is seldom necessary with these premium bottlings.
Filtration is a sore point – many winemakers I know would rather not filter their wines, but then they risk them being thrown out by the tasting panels who act as gatekeepers for the prüfnummer – the Austrian quality wine classification. The tasters in Krems seem particularly conservative, and there is a view that all single vineyard DAC wines from Kremstal or Kamptal must be filtered and starbright. I don’t subscribe to this view. When winemakers favour a long, slow decantation process to stabilise the wine, rather than intervening with filtration, the results often taste superior to my palate. Filtration always strips some percentage of the flavour and character of a wine, however little.
Still, there is no shortage of sensitive winemakers and exceptional wine to be tasted at Grafenegg. And there is plenty that fits my admittedly broad definition of “natural”.
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Most winemakers were showing the 2020 vintage this year. As these are high-end single vineyard bottlings, it wouldn’t take a genius to realise that many of the wines are criminally too young to be properly assessed. Still it’s always interesting to see which wines are already expressive, and which are not.
2020 was a bit of a mix in terms of vintage conditions, with a slightly delayed spring, and a mix of warm and rainy weather over the summer. The high alcohol levels of many wines in 2018 and 2019 was much less noticeable in 2020 – a positive.
That said, many of these wines seemed like they really need time, and it was hard to find bottles that were really showing something exceptional. I do have to mention Martin Diwald’s Riesling Goldberg 2020, a high point from this producer.
___________________________________ Diwald’s Goldberg has a scintillating interplay between racy acids and tangy berry fruit – think gooseberry, citrus, even whitecurrant. On the nose, it is still a little closed, with a bit of white peach and pear slice. The girth of this wine may be slight, but don’t be fooled. It’s packed with complexity, and even shows a whisp of sweetness on the finish. The texture is rounded and chalky.
Diwald – Riesling Ried Goldberg Erste Lage 2020
Well worth cellaring for 1-2 years when I’m sure it will flesh out a bit and gain in depth.
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If there was one producer who yet again achieved extraordinary consistency across both vintages and vineyards, it was Proidl. This family producer in Senftenberg, Kremstal always impresses me with their pin-sharp, elegant style, and this year was no exception. I learnt from a colleague that Proidl’s Rieslings generally complete their secondary (malolactic) fermentation every year. For the geeks, this is quite mind blowing as the freshness and lightness of the wines suggests otherwise.
___________________________________ In Ried Pfeningberg, Proidl has achieved a kind of weightlessness that I did not notice in every vineyard in 2020. There are hints of green plums, mango, ripe kiwi and more, plus some spiced honey notes. The texture is full yet refined, and although this is a ripe style, it has beautiful balance and drive. There is such spine-tingling acidity on the finish that it tickles the tongue and stimulates every vestibule of the body.
Fam. Proidl – Riesling Ried Pfeningberg Erste Lage 2020
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The wines of Alwin and Stefanie Jurtschitsch (Langenlois, Kremstal) are perennial favourites of mine, and while they didn’t disappoint, I didn’t find as many highs with their 2020s as I did with some 2018s and 2019s. Still, Alwin told me he was particularly happy with 2020 as a vintage, so time will no doubt tell.
The Vienna growers made a very strong showing with (mainly) 2020s. Christ showed an exceptional Gemischter Satz Ried Wiesthalen – one of the best wines I’ve ever tasted from this estate. Wieninger’s Gemischters were also very much up to scratch, showing typically broad textures and exciting salty finishes. This might just be one of the most thrilling and harmonious Gemischter Satzen I’ve yet tasted from Christ. The nose shows some candied peel and citrus, but the palate has a wonderful lifted acidity and tight, focused orchard fruits. A slatey, stony note carries the wine through to an exciting finish, and the texture has a deliciously spicy, leesy feel. I fell in love with Gemischter Satz long ago, in large part due to this big texture – this creamy yet spicy mouthfeel, which doesn’t need opulent fruit to make it work, but does need freshness and restraint in the cellar. A great wine. Ried Ulm is, for me, always the most profound and the most texturally exciting of Wieninger’s single vineyard Gemischter Satzen. This is no exception, from the riper 2019 vineyard. The aromatic varieties in the vineyard show a lovely floral lift on the nose and the palate. The fruit is ripe and spicy, but nicely offset by the salty, leesy body of the wine, and its superbly long and detailed finish. Achieving this balance and drinkability at 14.5% ABV is, I’d say, a testament to the fanatical biodynamic work in the vineyards.
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Christ – Wiener Gemischter Satz Ried Wiesthalen Erste Lage 2019
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Wieninger – Wiener Gemischter Satz Ried Ulm Erste Lage 2019
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This years’ biggest disappointment was the red wines from Carnuntum. With most producers showing 2019s, too many wines felt over-extracted, overly alcoholic and over oaked – an issue that I felt was in decline when tasting the generally more elegant 2018s. Still, there were high notes from Dorli Muhr and Walter Glatzer. I had high expectations of a Spitzerberg Blaufränkisch from Johannes Trapl, who works with very minimal intervention and no added sulphites. But unfortunately the lack of sulphur backfired in this wine, and it was dirty and unstable. Trapl is capable of making exciting wines, such as his qvevri-fermented Grüner Veltliner, tasted just a day before the Grafenegg tasting.
___________________________________ Dorli Muhr has identified three very distinct “climats” in Spitzerberg, and from the 2019 vintage she has enough vineyard holdings in each parcel to be able to vinify and bottle them seperately. Kranzen has a beautiful, pure fruit core of crushed raspberry and black cherry. It’s supple and superbly fresh, with a lightness of touch and energy that belies the moderately high ripeness level. A beautiful and elegant wine that offers a great deal of enjoyment for early drinking, but can also age.
Dorli Muhr – Blaufränkisch Ried Spitzerberg-Kranzen Erste Lage 2019
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Read all of my reviews from this year’s ÖTW Grafenegg tasting here. And look out parts two and three of this report, where I’ll cover the additional tasting days which focused on Leithaberg, Eisenberg and Styria.
