Blaufränkisch – Gossip – 2018

Wachter Wiesler – Blaufränkisch Ratschen – an Eisenberg DAC Reserve

The Wachter Wiesler Blaufränkisch Ratschen 2018 Eisenberg DAC Reserve is an organic red wine from the Ratschen vineyard site in southern Burgenland, Austria. This single-vineyard red wine made from Blaufränkisch grapes showcases the Deutsch Schützen mountain with its iron-rich soils. Around the Eisenberg with its iron-rich soils, a diverse range of rock formations and soil compositions can be found in a very small area: oxidized green schist, quartz phyllite, calcareous schist, or serpentinite. This red wine from the region, which was only declared a DAC area for origin-typical wine in 2010, is distinctive, mineral-spicy, cool, and precise with vibrant acidity and a masculine tannin structure.

On the nose, the garnet-red Blaufränkisch exudes dark berry fruits, pitch-black blackberries, cassis, and tart sloe, which meet a piquant herbal spice, with forest floor and fermented pepper adding to the mix. On the palate, the single-vineyard wine is juicy, with cool minerality, vibrantly delicate yet well-structured, and salty on the finish. The Wachter Wiesler Blaufränkisch Ratschen is a price-to-pleasure experience at the very highest Blaufränkisch level.

Ratschen Eisenberg DAC Reserve – Winemaking

A single-vineyard Blaufränkisch like the Ratschen represents the pinnacle of the Wachter Wiesler winery. Single-vineyard wines from old vines, deeply rooted in the unique (not to say incomparable) soil structures of Deutsch Schützen. "Lowest intervention" wines with great aging potential that aim to be companions for decades to come. Magnificent wines that grow in all their facets from year to year, constantly evolving, and ranking among the truly great, origin-typical red wines of Austria.

The vineyard for this wine is located in the north-east facing Ratschen site on the Deutsch Schützen mountain, formerly known as the "Pfarrweingarten" (Parish Vineyard). The partially 40-year-old Blaufränkisch vines grow on sandy loam in the topsoil and sand and gravel in the subsoil. The parent material of the soil is approximately 10 million years old. The vineyards are sun-drenched, stony, and relatively flat, and, in addition to the special soils, are shaped by the Pannonian-Illyrian climate. Christoph Wachter manages the vineyards of the Wachter Wiesler winery organically, with plenty of manual labor and care. The Blaufränkisch grapes, hand-harvested from mid-September to mid-October 2017, remain on the skins for 28 days, partly in wooden fermentation vats and partly in steel; they ferment spontaneously with natural vineyard yeasts and are then gently pressed. They subsequently undergo malolactic fermentation and mature for 22 months in traditional, large wooden barrels (2,000L). Bottled unfined and unfiltered in the summer of 2020.

Blaufränkisch – a wine and its values

• Origin: wine from Austria
• Region: Burgenland
• Vineyard: Ratschen
• Eisenberg DAC Reserve
• Grape variety: Blaufränkisch
• 13% Vol. alcohol
• 5.7 g/l acidity
• 1.0 g/l residual sugar
  

Organic inspection body AT-BIO-402 – Austria Agriculture