Large wooden barrel fermented Morillon Gamlitz from the Sattlerhof winery
Morillon Gamlitz from the Sattlerhof winery is a Chardonnay that is fermented in large wooden barrels and aged there for eight months on the fine lees. The 2024 vintage exhibits notes of red apple, hazelnut, and a herbal grip rarely found in a white wine.
Morillon Gamlitz is the Sattler family’s Chardonnay from vineyards in and around Gamlitz; it is labeled as Morillon because Styria never abandoned this old name for the grape variety. Fully ripe grapes are brought together, selectively hand-picked, and transported to the cellar in small crates.
Red apple fruit, hazelnut, and grated lemon zest
The aroma features savory, juicy red apple fruit, accompanied by hazelnut and freshly grated lemon zest. The winery itself describes this wine as juicy and incredibly lively, and there is little to add to that.
On the palate, the first thing you notice are the herbal, animating tannins, which are rarely granted to a white wine. There is also a hint of orange fruit, and the Morillon has a long, bright finish. Anyone who only knows Chardonnay as a soft, buttery variety will find a significantly sharper Styrian interpretation here.
It is dry, but by no means thin, as the wood has given it breadth without simulating sweetness. The 2024 vintage will be at its best until 2030, so this wine has time on its side, and you do too.
Duck, pâtés, and delicate braised dishes
Braised veal shoulder is the first pairing, roasted duck the second, and a coarse pâté the third. All three provide enough fat for the tannins in the wine to have something to grip onto, preventing them from feeling empty.
Markus Sattler stands at the stove in the winery's farmhouse kitchen, where such dishes and such bottles have long been paired together. A wine with this structure doesn’t demand an occasion, but it certainly suits one. Served cool, it seems tighter; at a slightly higher temperature, it feels broader—both paths lead to the same result.
The Morillon Pfarrweingarten, which comes from a single-vineyard site on coral limestone and matures for 18 months in small wooden barrels, shows how far the grape variety reaches at this estate.
Fermentation and aging in large wooden barrels
This Morillon is fermented in large wooden barrels, where it subsequently remains for eight months on the fine lees. Large barrels impart little wood aroma because the ratio of barrel surface area to wine volume is different than in a barrique. The difference compared to a steel tank is significant, as the fruit would remain clearer there, but the wine would be narrower.
What the wine gets instead is slow oxygen intake through the staves, and that is precisely where its grip comes from. Meanwhile, the fine lees continue to work silently, providing the Chardonnay with the creamy foundation under the fruit that holds it all together.
The grapes for this wine grow on steep slopes at 350 to 450 meters above sea level, in the family’s 15 to 35-year-old vineyards. The estate has been biodynamically certified since the 2021 vintage, and this vintage is naturally included. The entire collection can be found at the Sattlerhof winery; for those who wish to compare, take a look at the white wines and the wines from Austria.
Morillon Gamlitz – a wine and its specifications
- Origin: Wine from Austria
- Region: Southern Styria DAC
- Quality level: Ortswein (village wine) Gamlitz
- Grape variety: Morillon, Chardonnay
- 13% vol. alcohol
- 5.5 g/l acidity
- 1.1 g/l residual sugar
- Aging: Large wooden barrels, eight months on the fine lees
- Best consumed by: 2030
- Contains sulfites
- Vegan
- Biodynamically certified according to Lacon
Organic inspection body AT-BIO-402 – Austrian Agriculture