Gernot Heinrich Roter Traminer Freyheit – a biodynamic natural wine from Austria
The Roter Traminer Freyheit 2022 from Gernot Heinrich, which owes its name to the 100% Roter Traminer grapes, is an unfiltered, cloudy, biodynamic natural wine from Austria. Macerated, off-color, yeast-cloudy. For friends of diversity who want to open up to newly strengthened, traditional positions. This wine by Gernot Heinrich is the result of his endeavor to help old character varieties experience a renaissance. The Roter Traminer Freyheit is an aromatic, fragrant, complex food companion with a creamy texture and bitterness that encourages drinking.
In 2012, during a visit to Burgenland at the winery of Heike and Gernot Heinrich, we were able to taste the very first Roter Traminer Freyheit 2011 directly from the barrel. It was an impressive experience, one that was lasting and prompted us to dive into the world of macerated orange wines. Anyone who, like me, likes Traminer, preferably dry, will also be captivated by this Roter Traminer. I remember it like yesterday when Gernot asked me: "And what do you smell?" It took some courage to articulate what I perceived, because in addition to yellow roses and nutmeg, I smelled crispy roasted chicken skin. Yes, that's how it was!
The Roter Traminer Freyheit 2022 smells like a pale ale: of hops and again yellow roses, of exotic fruits and of bittersweet rooibos tea. But for all its fragrance, it is dry on the palate, which is wonderful. This orange wine is powerful and graceful at the same time and shows substantial extravagance, lingering long on the palate. And it still goes well with roasted chicken from the oven.
Gernot Heinrich – Winemaking
The Roter Traminer grows on the southeastern slopes of Spiegel in Breitenbrunn and Hochfeld in Winden, deeply rooted in the fossil-rich limestone sandstone soil permeated by eroded mica schist. The vineyards are cultivated biodynamically.
The grapes, hand-picked at the end of August 2022, were allowed to ferment spontaneously and were left on the mash with the stems for 19 days before being gently pressed in a basket press. The Roter Traminer Freyheit underwent a natural malolactic fermentation, in which the more aggressive malic acid is converted into milder lactic acid. This brings typical notes and, above all, a pleasant creaminess to the wine, which was allowed to mature on its natural lees for 17 months in large, used oak barrels before being bottled unfiltered and without added sulfur at the end of February 2024. Please shake the clay bottle before enjoying!
Roter Traminer Freyheit – a natural wine and its values
- Origin natural wine from Austria
- Grape variety Roter Traminer
- 12.0% Vol. Alcohol
- 5.5 g/l acidity
- 1.8 g/l residual sugar
Organic control body BIO-AT-402 Austrian Agriculture