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Tasting note
Zieregg is no ordinary vineyard site, and this Trockenbeerenauslese is no ordinary sweet wine. Manfred Tement put Southern Styria on the world map with his Sauvignon Blanc – that a noble sweet wine of such precision can also emerge from this steep slope, overlooking the border with Slovenia, is impressively demonstrated by the Grand Reserve of the 2013 vintage. Selected from raisined berries without botrytis, aged in large wooden casks: a wine that prioritises clarity over opulence.
- Colour & appearance
- Amber-coloured, fading to lime green at the rim – an interplay of colour that promises both maturity and freshness.
- Nose
- Lavish yet laser-precise: dried Armenian apricots, dried pears and white peach conserve, underpinned by spicy notes of light tobacco, milk chocolate, dark cocoa nibs, a hint of honey and linseed oil.
- Palate
- Astonishingly fluid for a TBA, flowing silkily across the palate with medium viscosity. The fruit found on the nose reappears, yet it is the mineral, saline notes that provide extraordinary tension – like salt in caramel.
- Finish
- Long, precise, carried by fine acidity and saline depth. A wine for now, later and long beyond.
- Terroir & origin
- Zieregg is the estate’s grand cru vineyard site, divided into parcels such as Kapelle, Kår and Steilriegel, with gradients of up to 70 per cent. The calcareous soils of Southern Styria shape its crystalline, mineral signature – here transferred to a sweet wine.
- Grape variety & vinification
- Pure Sauvignon Blanc from raisined berries without noble rot, aged in large wooden casks. Restraint rules in the Tement cellar: extended lees contact and gentle maturation rather than cellar cosmetics.
- Food recommendations
- Wonderful with Greek yoghurt with caramelised walnuts and honey, bold and delightful with grilled tuna belly with melted Roscoff onions or with spicy glazed pork belly with habanero chillies – the sweetness tames the heat, the acidity cuts through the fat.
- Special characteristics
- A TBA without botrytis is a rarity: instead of noble rot notes, purist, crystalline fruit dominates. The Grand Reserve brings together the finest sweet wine selections from Zieregg – demonstrating that Sauvignon Blanc can also be remarkably expressive as a noble sweet wine.
