Tasting note
- Cuvée & Ageing
- 55 per cent Zweigelt, 45 per cent Blaufränkisch, three weeks on the skins in wooden fermentation vats, 21 months in used 500-litre casks, bottled in August 2018. The importer suggests a drinking window extending to 2034.
- Nose
- Initially quiet, almost shy – this wine needs air, time and a generous glass. Then it opens up with precisely delineated dark fruit: black cherry, accompanied by hints reminiscent of Black Forest gateau. Above this floats a floral, almost perfumed note. No jamminess, no showiness – but rather a controlled, cool aromatic profile that builds layer upon layer like a balloon slowly filling with air.
- Palate
- Crunchy red and black berry fruit in wave-like layers, woven into a fine, almost textile-like tannin structure. A firm backbone of acidity provides support, whilst a delicate, stimulating bitter note adds tension to the finish. Velvety in its underlying tone, yet never soft – a straightforward, honest character with tension-filled length.
- Finish
- Long, framed by cool minerality, with echoes of dark cherries and a finely spiced, slightly austere trace. Those who exercised patience have been rewarded since around 2022 with increasing depth.
- Terroir & Origin
- Gernot and Heike Heinrich farm their vineyards around Gols on Lake Neusiedl and in the Leitha Mountains entirely biodynamically – Demeter-certified and members of respekt-BIODYN. Their parcels lie between the cool limestone of the Leitha Mountains and the warmer gravel soils of the Parndorf Plateau – often precisely those steep, stony vineyard sites that others had abandoned.
- Grape Varieties & Vinification
- A cuvée of Zweigelt and Blaufränkisch, dry at a moderate 12.5% abv. In the Heinrichs’ cellar, gravity reigns supreme – no pumps, no stress for the wine. Maturation takes place in used 500-litre oak casks, which allow the wine to breathe rather than perfume it.
- Food Pairings
- A wine for the dinner table: braised pork belly with potato flan and red cabbage salad, stuffed roast chicken with chestnuts and sweet potatoes or – for a vegetarian option – a Mediterranean grilled vegetable quiche with Gorgonzola and walnuts.
- Special Characteristics
- The 2016 vintage demonstrates what time and good wood can achieve: instead of youthful opulence, velvety ripeness, tobacco notes and dark cherry in a complexity that only emerges after years in the cellar. Not a natural wine for a quick evening – but one for a special occasion.
