late harvest red – late harvest – 2014

Late harvest red from the Gernot Heinrich winery

Late harvest red by Gernot Heinrich is a red Spätlese made from Zweigelt, Blaufränkisch, and Merlot that is only produced in exceptional years. It is not a sweet liqueur wine, but rather a powerful red wine whose residual sugar cushions the high alcohol content instead of accentuating it.

Late harvest red is the red Spätlese from the Gernot Heinrich winery in Gols, located in Austria's Burgenland region, harvested from the town's oldest hillside sites. The south-west-facing vineyards are situated on glacial red terrace gravel and fine-grained, sandy-loam sedimentary soils. With 15.0 percent alcohol, this is the most powerful wine the winery offers for sale.

Dark berries, cedarwood, and tobacco

The aroma has great depth, led by dark berries, followed by a subtle herbal spice, a hint of cedarwood, and finally tobacco.

The winery notes that this red wine is reminiscent of a Vintage Port, and that hits the nail on the head. Power and sweetness pursue the same goal here without resulting in a sweet wine in the glass. What remains is a dark, warm wine with a very long finish.

The residual sweetness settles beneath the alcohol, smoothing out its sharp edges. As a result, the wine feels neither cloying nor harsh, but dense, velvety, and surprisingly agile for its weight. If you let it sit in the glass, it becomes even rounder over the course of half an hour.

Botrytis, late harvest, and long aging

At the beginning of October 2014, the botrytis-affected grapes were harvested by hand—weeks after the rest of the harvest—which is the source of its concentration.

Botrytis is the noble rot that makes the grape skin permeable and allows water to evaporate. What remains inside becomes more concentrated and gives the wine its weight. Without an autumn providing the right conditions, this level of concentration does not occur, which is why it is not produced in every vintage.

After spontaneous fermentation, the grapes remained on the skins in wooden fermentation vats and steel tanks for two weeks before being pressed gently. The wine then matured for 52 months in wooden vats and steel tanks. It was only bottled at the end of March 2019, more than four years after the harvest.

Where this Spätlese belongs in the evening

Dark chocolate, a warm chocolate cake, and robust blue cheese can stand up to the weight of this Spätlese and even complement it.

Serve it in the glass at sixteen degrees in small quantities, as longevity counts for much more than volume here. At this weight, 750 milliliters are enough for an entire evening with a larger group. An opened bottle will keep well for several days if sealed, without the wine appearing tired.

If a bottle remains in the cellar for a few more years, it will continue to evolve, as a Spätlese of this kind is in no hurry to mature. The Blaufränkisch Leithaberg, which is vinified dry and shows the other side of the winery, comes from the same vintage. You can find darker companions for the evening in our red wine collection, and the Gernot Heinrich winery collection demonstrates the full spectrum this house covers between light and powerful wines.

Late harvest red – a Spätlese and its values

• Origin: Wine from Austria
• Region: Burgenland
• Grape varieties: Blaufränkisch, Zweigelt, Merlot
• 15.0% ABV alcohol
• 5.7 g/l acidity
• 13.5 g/l residual sugar

Organic control body AT-BIO-402 – Austrian Agriculture