Undeniably intense purple with a clear violet rim and opaque core, stringent fruit attack, black elderberries underpinned by minty flavours, chocolate with a high persentage of cacao, but also pimento, ink lead and curry leaves, jus-like spicy aromas with concurrent fruit intensity and hints of cedar, earl grey and cassis confit.
Dry, a pleasant fruit onset that already has a signalling effect, lively, almost vigorous Cabernet Franc fruit with a fine-grained tannic grip, powerfully centred dark fruit with integrated juiciness, delicate finish. A ‘Bursch’ (cool boy), as they say here. One of very few of its kind in Austria.
Pairing
The red of a sirloin with the black of the pepper and the yellow of the egg, lamb grilled on cedar wood in Levantine style with laurel and pep, sourdough rye bread with raw milk butter and a noticeable juniper ham topping, complemented by: thyme mayo on quail egg, scamorza pizza with cassis jus and pickled cornelian cherries, casarecce, served with plenty of macadamia pesto and porcini mushroom slices, wild boar goulash accompanied by fried pepper dumplings, simply a catchy Blunzngröstl from the world champion blood sausage category: Pimento, not too short, larded saddle of venison on caraway polenta, stir-fried chanterelles with samples of three kinds of farmer's bacon and fennel greens, game empanadas garnished with raw and fried parsley leaves. For advanced grape variety classes. Passes for a real red wine.
Making
Hand-picked into small boxes at the beginning of October from the three altitude levels Turner, Plachen, Kraxner - all weathered slate with a partial clay layer.
Destemming, closed mash fermentation over 22 days with at least two days at 30°C (88 °F), gentle pressing, malolactic feermentation in steel tanks, storage in used 500-2,500 litre barrels.
