Grüner Veltliner Riede Braunsdorfer “Fuchs & Dachs” 2018

The Grüner Veltliner stands in the Steiner Braunsdorfer vineyard in a side valley of the Danube with four to five metres of loess soil on bare rock. The site is very steep, the vines stand on small terraces of about four to five metres deep. They are around 50 years old and have been cultivated by the Langs for four years and planted on demeter-certification. The vines have a 2.4 metre high foliage wall. The site is located at around 250 metres above sea level. In addition, this wine has a small proportion of 90-year-old vines from the Steiner Schreck, which are largely used for GV Third Act are used. The name comes from the fact that badgers have their burrows in the loess soil. In cold winters, foxes like to come by and lie with the badgers until it gets warmer again. 

The harvest took place on 31 August around 70 days after flowering, which was earlier than ever before. However, the grapes were physiologically ripe and Markus Lang harvested at a pH of 3.0. This early harvest time leads to an alcohol content of only 11.5 vol.-%. The GV was pressed extremely slowly over two days on the self-designed 100-tonne tree press. The pressing process itself is completely reductive, but afterwards the juice has time to brown, so it is deliberately subjected to oxidation. The juice is fermented spontaneously and aged for two years on the full lees in large Stockinger wooden barrels. It was bottled unfiltered in November 2020 at 3.2 pH. During fermentation, Lang adds 3 to 5 % destemmed grapes, which ferment intercellularly, thus repeatedly kick-starting the fermentation process despite the constant 9 °C in the cellar. Later, the wine is minimally sulphurised. With the Fox and badger the Stockinger barrel in use was occupied for the first time.

medium straw yellow

The aroma from the glass is highly elegant, especially when you follow the Fox and Badger a Burgundy goblet and thus a lot of air. Caraffing also does no harm at all. What flows out of the glass has little to do with a classic view of Grüner Veltliner. Here, the grape variety - even if it is so often used as a comparison and one might be a little tired of it - combines with a finesse and elegance, clarity and subtlety that one knows from cool sites in Burgundy. It is the mixture of wood and precise fruit, yeast and spice that is already so skilful in the bouquet. And especially the spiciness, which can sometimes get a bit out of hand in Grüner Veltliners, is wonderfully captured here. White-fleshed fruit, ripe but crisp, combines with grapefruits and lemons, herbs and stone, with pear cream and a little brioche, oak and a hint of the best vanilla, plus an ethereal hint of mint.

The wine initially appears wonderfully creamy and melting on the palate, the acidity ripe but vital. The long yeast storage makes the Grüner Veltliner very elegant and silky here as well. At the same time, the wine has a cool, vibrant, gripping and mineral component. The wine has body and power, but remains austere and sinewy in a positive sense, as is rarely found on the palate with this variety. The first exposure provides a clear wood imprint, which, however, integrates very nicely in the Löss-Veltliner. Once again, one can clearly say that this is a highly independent, extremely complex wine that, despite the early harvest, lacks nothing if one likes the lean yet complex, the firm and energetic style. There is a clear concept behind this style, and it changes the view of the grape variety without distorting it.