Wines of the cosmos – Zorjan
Simon gets to grips with the cosmic properties of Zorjan’s excellent amphora-fermented wines
Winkler-Hermaden’s very orange Gewürztraminer
Winkler-Hermaden’s Gewürztraminer Orange crossed my horizon after it triumphed in the 2016 Pogusch Weinkost – an annual competition for Styrian wines.
The unknown Austria – Part 2
For the introduction to this tasting, please see Part 1. Orange Interlude Austria shares borders with Northern Italy and Slovenia – both parts of the world with a long tradition of using extended skin maceration in white wine. So it’s Read more
The unknown Austria – Part 1
A year living in the small Austrian town of Eisenstadt developed my considerable love not just for one of its natives, but also for the restrained and elegant wines. The issue? Availability of many of the greatest wines is pretty sparse, Read more
A fiery Roter Traminer from Tauss
I’ve featured wines from several of the Schmecke das Leben producers in this series, but not Tauss until now. Roland and Alice Tauss are perhaps the least well known winery in the group, partly due to their very small size – there’s a mere 6 hectares of vines at their bucolic estate in Southern Styria.
One year of skin contact – Strohmeier Wein der Stille 2013
Regular readers will have noticed I’ve featured a few wines in this slot that merely flirt with the orange wine category. So to end the first year of these orange segments, here’s an all-out, serious contender made with 12 months of maceration: Strohmeier’s Wein Der Stille 2013, from Southern Styria, Austria
Andreas Tscheppe – Hirschkäfer Erdfass 2006
The production methods for Tscheppe’s Erdfass (“earth barrel”), also known as Hirschkäfer (Stag beetle), seem bizarre at first glance. A blend of Sauvignon Blanc & Chardonnary ferments on the skins for two weeks, and is then transferred into a 600 litre oak barrel which is buried in the ground over the winter months. After the winter, the barrel is dug up, the wine continues to mature and is then bottled after 24 months.